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Living Carbon's Hybrid Poplar Afforestation project entails planting Photosynthesis-Enhanced Hybrid Poplar, a unique variety developed by Living Carbon to capture additional carbon. These trees use improved photosynthesis and have been studied in Living Carbon’s greenhouse and shown to accumulate up to 53% more biomass in a paper shared by the company’s team. The project will work not only to sequester carbon in a long-term living system but also to steer the land toward reestablishing the original natural-forest species composition while removing excess metals from the soil. The primary project area is the Zion Grove, Pennsylvania Reserve Project Area, a 300-acre mine land parcel located within the Lower North Branch of the Susquehanna Watershed. The property is owned by a private landowner and managed by Living Carbon. The management regime will include uneven-aged stands with no less than 20% of the trees representing a presently 10-15-year-old cohort of eastern white pine and black locust, which are native to the area. The regime will result in a mixed tree age and species composition. The project scenario will work to not only sequester carbon in a long-term living system but also direct the land toward reestablishing the original natural forest species composition and removing excess metals from the soil. Living Carbon’s mission is to responsibly remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere using the inherent power of plants. It has developed a photosynthesis enhancement trait to increase trees’ growth and carbon sequestration rate. Some plants have naturally developed a similar method of photosynthesis efficiency increase, known as C4 photosynthesis, which relies on anatomical changes that are only possible in a certain group of plants. Living Carbon’s method achieves similar carbon capture results without requiring elaborate anatomical changes. If all the trees in managed forests were replaced with trees incorporating these traits and grown on a 30-year cycle, the net carbon capture per cycle would be increased from 1.5 to 3 gigatonnes annually. Living Carbon’s goal is to incorporate these traits across multiple common plant species such as loblolly pine, douglas fir, and switchgrass while simultaneously expanding its portfolio of traits to areas like nitrogen fixation, salt tolerance, drought tolerance, and fire resistance.