Money for nothing

MyFox Memphis | Arkansas Landowners Receive Carbon Credit Checks

LITTLE ROCK (WHBQ FOX13 myfoxmemphis.com) -- Some Arkansas landowners have discovered that money can grow on trees.

Earl Smith of Little Rock enrolled 158 acres of loblolly pines in Izard County with a carbon-credit broker and was among the first group of forest landowners in the state to be paid for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Ken Wiesner of North Little Rock enrolled 226 acres of loblolly pines in Saline County and Garland County, although he was dubious that would pay off.

"I was skeptical until we opened up the envelope with a check in it," Wiesner says.

The Chicago-based Delta Institute, a not-for-profit broker for the Chicago Climate Exchange, has paid 18 landowners in the state a total of $126,000.