WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service is investing $15 million to connect underserved and small-acreage forest landowners with emerging climate markets. This funding is thanks to forest landowner support provisions in President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. In total, nine proposals across 14 states were selected to receive funding. The announcement comes in addition to a $145 million investment from the Inflation Reduction Act announced in March of this year , which also aims to help landowners access climate markets. Forests are powerful tools in the fight against climate change, and emerging voluntary private-sector markets are now creating economic incentives to keep forests healthy and productive through reforestation, improved forest management, and other sustainable practices. However, high acreage requirements and prohibitive start-up costs have caused many private forest owners to be left behind.