Oregon: Lane County looks into public forest sequestration
Lane County is the biggest timber producing county in the country!
Trees grow well there! And now that extraction exploitation is
shifting to sequestration exploitation… Can zero-cut on public lands be
far behind? All the available science says unlogged, unthinned forest
sequesters more carbon than “manged” forests. So what’s the debate?
–Deane
———-
———-
Public forest lands in Lane County and across Oregon have long been
measured in terms of their value to lumber, recreation and natural
habitat. Now the county board is considering a new role for them:
Battling global warming. The commissioners are considering the
monetary value of public forests for carbon sequestration, which is
the absorption of “greenhouse gases” such as carbon dioxide that cause
climate change.
The county wants to be positioned to benefit if the
federal government — even years from now — starts paying communities
that take harmful gases out of the air, a county official said this
week. The county is working with state representatives on a statement
asking Congress to share any future revenue from carbon sequestration
on federal forest lands in the counties, just as revenue from timber
sales is shared today, said Alex Cuyler, the county’s
intergovernmental relations manager.
Under the “cap-and-trade” model,
the nation’s carbon emissions could be capped at a certain level and
entities that produce less greenhouse gases could sell credits to
those that produce more. During a report to the county board last
fall, County Administrator Jeff Spartz said Lane County’s public
forest land could bring $48 million annually, depending on the value
that the federal government could set per ton for carbon reduction.
The county’s operating budget, by comparison, is about $65 million.
But some question whether policy-makers can make carbon sequestration
work on the ground. Mary Wood, an environmental law professor at the
University of Oregon, said scientists continue to debate whether the
human race has already put in play irreversible, climate-related
natural disasters that will eventually overwhelm the planet. But those
scientists who argue society can reverse the catastrophic trend do so
with the assumption that governments will protect the forests and
soils that store carbon, she added. “The scientists are banking on
local and state governments protecting these lands, and government
officials need to know that and do it,” Wood said.
http://www.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/web/news/5167190-35/story.csp
— Posted to http://forestpolicyresearch.com via gmail to posterous and
also to forestpolicyresearch@yahoogroups.com