WHEELING — EQT Corp. on Monday announced its first nature-based carbon offset initiative — and it will take place locally at Oglebay Park.

EQT said it has partnered with the Wheeling Park Commission; Teralytic, a soil analytics company; and Climate Smart Environmental Consulting, LLC, to implement forest management projects that will generate carbon offsets.

The projects, which will span more than 1,000 acres of forest land at Oglebay and other forest property owned by the Wheeling Park Commission, will utilize Teralytic’s soil probe technology to ensure the quantification of offsets is accurate and transparent.

The partnership will implement conservation practice standards outlined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resource Conservation Service and will align to Verra guidelines to ensure the effectiveness of emissions reductions and removals.

“We are excited to take this first step in a partnership with EQT as the center of knowledge for forest improvement and soil health,” said Wheeling Park Commission President & CEO Bob Peckenpaugh. “We have served our community for 100 years, and for Oglebay to endure for another 100 years, we have a responsibility to the people of this community and the 2,000 acres we call home to clean up, maintain and improve our natural resources.”

The advanced soil probe technology owned by Teralytic will empirically measure the impact of the projects on soil health.

Teralytic probes make possible automatic and real-time measurement of soil carbon, soil moisture, and other vital soil nutrients which eliminate the need for costly manual soil sampling to quantify carbon offsets generated. This will allow EQT to generate higher quality carbon offsets at a lower cost than traditional methods.

EQT has also partnered with Wheeling Country Day School to pilot an educational learning program to allow students to learn about soil health by monitoring real-time changes in the health of the soil, 24 hours a day.

“EQT has a long-standing commitment to reducing operational emissions. Our operations already have some of the lowest GHG emissions intensities in the world,” said Rob Wingo, Executive Vice President, Corporate Ventures of EQT. “Nature-based projects like this, which are supported by cutting edge technology that ensures accuracy and transparency, will help offset EQT’s remaining emissions and advance our mission to deliver cheaper, more reliable, cleaner energy to the world.”