Browse Ambrook’s collection of funding programs by Native

The first step for ranchers interested in participating is to submit an application of interest. From there:

1. Native will reach out to schedule an initial phone/video call or ranch visit.
2. Native will request information about the ranch: baseline records and maps (shapefiles), ranch improvement plan, easement contracts (if applicable), and written leases (if applicable).
3. Native gathers final information: three years of income statements and balance sheets, a credit check, a background check, and final carbon sequestration estimates.
4. Native will confirm eligibility and provide terms.
5. You sign the contract.
6. You get paid to start project activity and continue to receive carbon credit payments for 40 years.

Ranchers or landowners outside the project region can contact Kirsten McKnight at kirsten.mcknight@native.eco or submit an application of interest for a new region.

Tara Povalish

Native's Northern Great Plains Program Manager

Adele Stenson

WSE Rancher Coordinator

Native's improved grazing carbon program provides ranchers with upfront financial and technical support to sequester carbon in&#x2004;soils. In partnership with Western Sustainability Exchange, the program provides upfront funding to help ranchers implement sustainable land management practices that enhance soil carbon sequestration, enabling ranchers to invest in infrastructure and grazing improvements while gaining access to verified and credible carbon markets.


Participating ranchers benefit from increased forage and land productivity, greater drought resilience, enhanced carrying capacity for livestock and wildlife, capital support for infrastructure improvements, and diversified income through carbon credit revenue for up to forty years.


The program supports ranchers in adopting improved grazing techniques such as increasing pasture splits to boost stocking density and livestock movement, reducing grazing days per pasture to prevent overgrazing, and prioritizing land rest in all pastures.


Launched in 2015 in partnership with Western Sustainability Exchange, it is the first validated and verified carbon project to a leading carbon standard, undergoing third-party audits to the Verified Carbon Standard. Native and Western Sustainability Exchange also publish the program under the name Northern Great Plains Improved Grazing Carbon Program.


Native's Help Build™ program provides up-front capital and financial security to improve soil health before the income from soil carbon benefits has been realized. Help Build™ offsets provide funding for fencing and water infrastructure that allows ranchers to increase their number of pastures, decrease the pastures' size, and increase the speed and number of livestock rotations, prolonging rest and recovery on more acres of grassland.



Native's improved grazing carbon program provides ranchers with upfront financial and technical support to sequester carbon in soils. In partnership with Western Sustainability Exchange, the program provides upfront funding to help ranchers implement sustainable land management practices that enhance soil carbon sequestration, enabling ranchers to invest in infrastructure and grazing improvements while gaining access to verified and credible carbon markets.

Participating ranchers benefit from increased forage and land productivity, greater drought resilience, enhanced carrying capacity for livestock and wildlife, capital support for infrastructure improvements, and diversified income through carbon credit revenue for up to forty years.

The program supports ranchers in adopting improved grazing techniques such as increasing pasture splits to boost stocking density and livestock movement, reducing grazing days per pasture to prevent overgrazing, and prioritizing land rest in all pastures.

Launched in 2015 in partnership with Western Sustainability Exchange, it is the first validated and verified carbon project to a leading carbon standard, undergoing third-party audits to the Verified Carbon Standard. Native and Western Sustainability Exchange also publish the program under the name Northern Great Plains Improved Grazing Carbon Program.

Native's Help Build™ program provides up-front capital and financial security to improve soil health before the income from soil carbon benefits has been realized. Help Build™ offsets provide funding for fencing and water infrastructure that allows ranchers to increase their number of pastures, decrease the pastures' size, and increase the speed and number of livestock rotations, prolonging rest and recovery on more acres of grassland.

Eligibility for the program depends on both the core requirements from the project methodology and Native's own criteria. This includes:

- Current management is either continuous grazing or limited and moderate previous history of regenerative management. The best candidates will be those with limited experience with improved grazing. If the ranch has been working on rotations and more intensive management in the past, management can be assessed at the pasture level and pastures that may not be eligible excluded, without the ranch being completely ineligible.
- Located in the validated project region. The project is validated for a defined region shown on a map on the program page — Montana and surrounding states. Ranchers outside the region are invited to reach out.
- Commitment to the land and ranch operations. Native signs 40 year contracts with participating ranches and guarantees to pay a minimum payment per metric tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent accrued in the soil.
- Greater than 2,500 grazable acres under livestock management. Native states its minimum is 2,500 acres at this time.
- Willingness to work and grow in uncertainty, given the evolving science of soil carbon sequestration and carbon markets.

A contract to sell an environmental outcome the operation produces - sequestered carbon, a water-quality credit, a habitat credit - to a buyer, rather than receiving an award. Payment is typically per unit (per acre or per ton CO2e) over a multi-year term and contingent on verification, so records using this instrument carry the payment.* and contract.* fields rather than award.min/award.max. Covers both credit-generating programs, where credits are sold to outside buyers, and supply-chain insetting programs, where a company the operation already sells to pays for the practice.

Environmental Market

Prescribed Grazing

Livestock

Cattle

Pigs

Poultry

Sheep

Specialty Livestock

Beef Cattle

Dairy Cattle

Feeder Cattle

Slaughter Cattle

Calves

Heifers

Steers

Bulls

Barrows

Boars

Feeder Pigs

Hogs

Sows

Chickens

Cornish Hens

Ducks

Geese

Turkey

Ewes

Lambs

Rams

Alpacas

Beefalo

Bison

Buffalo

Caribou

Deer

Emus

Goats

Guinea Pigs

Llamas

Mink

Mohair

Ostrich

Pheasants

Quail

Rabbits

Reindeer

Water Buffalo

Beef Bottom Round

Beef Brisket

Beef Chuck Roast

Beef Eye Round

Beef Flank Steak

Beef Flat Iron Steak

Beef Heart

Beef Liver

Beef London Broil

Beef NY Strip Steak

Beef Oxtail

Beef Rib Steak

Beef Rump Roast

Beef Short Ribs

Beef Sirloin

Beef Sirloin Tip Roast

Beef Skirt Steak

Beef Soup Bones

Beef Stew Meat

Beef Tongue

Beef Top Round

Beef Whole Filet

Ground Beef

Broilers

Chicks

Fryers

Layers

Pullets

Roasters

Ducklings

Goslings

Poults

Toms

Ground Lamb

Lamb Chops

Lamb Heart

Lamb Leg

Lamb Liver

Lamb Shank

Lamb Shoulder

Lamb Stew Meat

Bison Calf

Bison Meat

Bucks

Nannies

Slaughter Goats

- Program Overview (263.69 KB)
- Program Flyer (737.55 KB)
- Carbon Companies Comparison (3.39 MB)

Soil Health

Reduced Tillage

Regenerative

Conservation

Carbon Capture

Native signs 40 year contracts with participating ranches and guarantees a floor payment regardless of where the carbon market moves. Native has described outcome-based payments as running $3 to $8 per acre per year, with Help Build upfront funding at $3 to $5 per acre, on a five-company rancher panel hosted by Western Sustainability Exchange in April 2025. The rate depends on infrastructure, grazing plan, and environmental factors, and Native adjusts it every three years to stay market competitive. Native publishes no per-tonne figure.

Two payment structures. Under Help Build, Native funds fencing and water infrastructure upfront in exchange for the rights to the credits for a period or a fixed quantity. Under outcome-based payments, used where the rancher already has capital for the infrastructure, Native pays per credit as it is verified onto the registry.

Ranchers are paid to start project activity and continue to receive carbon credit payments for 40 years. Native measures, reports, and verifies the carbon sequestered in the soil to develop and transact carbon credits in voluntary markets.

The project is validated and verified to the Verified Carbon Standard under Verra methodology VM0026, and undergoes third-party audits. Verra inactivated VM0026 in 2024 while consolidating its grassland methodologies; validated projects continue under the version they were validated against, and crediting is unaffected.

List of Native Funding Opportunities