It's Official - State Air Board Adopts CAR Forest Project Accounting Protocol

Revised Accounting Standards Make Headlines Coast to Coast

The national significance of California's Air Resources Board adopting a revised "3.0" version of the Climate Action Reserve (CAR) Forest Project Accounting Protocol hasn't gone unnoticed in the press.

The Associated Press, New York Times and several other outlets covered the adoption, most notable for the Protocol's expansion to include forest carbon projects from across the nation.

As the first state-approved forest carbon accounting standard with national applicability, the revised Protocol provides a model for federal and international climate policy makers who are negotiating terms for safeguarding and expanding the climate benefits of forests in federal climate legislation and the successor to the Kyoto Protocol.

PFT already is working with forest owners in other parts of the country to prepare projects for registration under the new Forest Project Accounting Protocol.

Some of the press coverage focused on a narrow provision of the CAR standards that clarifies the limits for registered emissions reduction projects to employ even-aged forest management – also known as clear cutting – on up to 40 acres of land.

While the rule aligns with existing California forestry law, this requirement is far more strict than what timber managers are used to complying with in other states.

“We have to write rules that are stringent but fair,” CAR President Gary Gero told the New York Times, “in the hopes of getting more people to use forests to sequester carbon.”

"The Protocol uses a rigorous accounting mechanism for ensuring projects offer permanent, measurable climate gains that are additional to what can be achieved with conventional forest management. Business-as-usual clear cutting of young forests won’t yield any increases in carbon stores," says PFT Managing Director Connie Best, who served on the Protocol Revision Working Group.

"If landowners are managing their forests to protect existing carbon banks and increase stores, these gains will be reflected under CAR’s accounting standards," Best says. "Then they’ll be able to deliver credible, verifiable emissions reductions and reap corresponding returns in the marketplace. "

Read our media release on the revised Protocol.

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Revised CAR Forest Protocols Poised to Go National

California’s Air Resources Board (ARB) will vote Thursday on the proposed adoption of a revised version of the state’s standard used to measure the effectiveness of forest projects that protect the climate.

If adopted -- and that's the expected outcome -- the Climate Action Reserve’s Forest Project Accounting Protocols will become the first state-approved forest carbon accounting standard with national applicability. As such, the revised Protocol adoption provides guidance for federal and international climate policy makers who are negotiating terms for safeguarding and expanding the climate benefits of forests in federal climate legislation and the successor to the Kyoto Protocol.

For more context on why national application of the CAR standard is meaningful, download our media release on the revised Protocols adoption. We've been talking to curious reporters in advance of the ARB meeting tomorrow and will post links to coverage after the vote.

The Pacific Forest Trust was a member of the stakeholder working group that recommended revisions to the protocols, and is generally pleased with the changes, though we have asked the Climate Action Reserve (CAR) to address a technical concern about the data used to establish the baseline of “common practice” in the region. We expect to work with CAR over the next few months to refine the data to better reflect common forest conditions. Our comments to CAR on this issue can be found here.

The Air Resources Board has released a staff report with more information about the changes to the Forest Project Protocols, which can be downloaded as a PDF here.

The California Air Resources Board is meeting on Thursday and Friday at:

South Coast Air Quality Management District Office
Auditorium
21865 Copley Drive
Diamond Bar, California 91765-4182

The agenda is available online, and the Forest Protocol item is expected to be heard early Thursday afternoon.










Paul Mason
California Policy Director

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Broad Coalition Calls for Land Conservation Funding in Federal Climate Bill

Fifty Groups Urge Senators to Act to Prevent Domestic Deforestation and Associated Greenhouse Gas Emissions

A broad coalition of forest land owners, environmental groups, carbon market experts and land trusts are urging lawmakers to dedicate funding in federal climate legislation for permanent conservation easements on private U.S. forest, farm and ranch land.

Nearly 50 groups from around the country have joined to write a letter to Senate Committee Chair leaders Baucus, Boxer and Lincoln asking them to slow the conversion of domestic lands. Permanent land conservation, which landowners undertake voluntarily, would prevent release of an additional 15 percent of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and would offer an important source of clean, renewable biomass energy as well as sustainable rural jobs.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture projects 75 million acres of forest, farm and grazing lands will be converted and developed in response to financial pressures over the next half-century. Once converted, these lands lose both their current carbon storage and future ability to safely remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and store them for extremely long periods of time.

“Permanent conservation easements will safeguard our most abundant national climate solution – our natural landscapes. To protect the carbon stored in the land, lawmakers should dedicate allowances in the federal climate bill for the permanent conservation or our nation’s working forests, farms and ranchlands,” says PFT President Laurie Wayburn, who is meeting with lawmakers to deliver the letter this week.

“The bill passed by the House makes provisions for preventing international forest loss – a critical objective," Wayburn adds. "We’re simply asking for the same consideration for our productive lands here at home, where countless Americans depend on this vital climate resource for their livelihoods.”

By setting aside allowances in the bill to fund conservation easements, lawmakers would keep working forests and agricultural landscapes in production, while forever conserving their ability to provide a broad range of ecosystem services ranging from sustainably harvested wood to a well-balanced climate.

“In this economy an increasing number of forest landowners are being pressured to sell their land — many have no other option,” says Leah W. MacSwords, Kentucky State Forester and president of the National Association of State Foresters (NASF). “By setting aside allowances in the bill to fund conservation easements, lawmakers would protect the ability of working landscapes to stabilize the climate in addition to providing food, wood, water, wildlife habitat and a host of other public benefits.”

To read the coalition letter online, visit: http://bit.ly/ClimateConservationLetter1-13-10.

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'Artificial Trees' to Cut Carbon? Really?

Researchers in the United Kingdom are looking for 10 million pounds to fund analysis of the "effectiveness, risks and costs" of manufacturing artificial trees that will suck greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere. Ressembling a sort of CO2 vacuum the size of a shipping container, the prototype "trees" would filter carbon dioxide from the air and store it away.

Seems like we already have a good solution to this one. Conserving, restoring and enhancing the CO2 storage potential of our natural forest "carbon sinks" must be a more practical approach. This isn't a new debate - Biopact considered the relative merits of real vs. synthetic trees and their climate benefits back in 2007.

Perhaps the landscape known for Robin Hood's Sherwood Forest is out of options. David A. Perry, author of "Forest Ecosystems," writes that the once-extensive forests of the British Isles are "virtually non-existent" thanks to historic deforestation.

Here in the United States we lose an area the size of Delaware to forest loss and degradation each year. Let's hope lawmakers invest now in conservation of a proven natural climate solution - our forest infrastructure - before we're forced to spend much more on the plastic and metal variety. Artificial trees may suck carbon out of the air faster than conventional trees, but they hardly seem like a good source of wood, water, wildlife or wilderness recreation.

And they're far less attractive.

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ES&T Journal Touts 'Treasure Trove' of CO2 Storage in Older Forests

Van Eck Forest Project Cited As Example of Climate-Friendly Forest Management

A new article in the journal Environmental Science & Technology underscores the importance of older, more natural forests in climate change legislation now making its way through the Senate.

PFT's Laurie Wayburn is quoted in the article, which references the "growing body of research" showing that old growth forests store two to three times the carbon of typically managed forests.

The distinction will be important when including credits, or "offsets" from forest-based emissions reductions, in the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES). Timber management for more natural, mature forests boosts carbon stores compared to “business-as-usual” cutting methods. Those additional stores are what carbon projects need to demonstrate credible climate benefits that could qualify for offset credits under a cap and trade system established by ACES.

The next step is toting up the value in carbon credits of old-growth silviculture. “California is the first governmental body in the world to provide a system for quantifying emissions reductions that are created through changes in forest management,“ says Laurie Wayburn, president of Pacific Forest Trust, a conservation organization.” Landowners must conduct a full life-cycle assessment in order to qualify for an emission reduction project,” she says.

Wayburn’s group is managing the Van Eck Forest Project in Humboldt County, the first forest carbon project registered with the California Climate Action Registry. To achieve CO2 emissions reductions, the forest’s redwood trees will be allowed to grow older and therefore larger than under a business-as-usual forestry scenario. The amount of timber harvested from the property will always be less than the volume of new forest growth. The changes will allow the land to sequester an additional 500,000 metric tons of CO2 over the next 100 years.

To read the full article visit the Environmental Science & Technology website. You can also read more about our recommendations for inclusion of U.S. forests in federal climate legislation.

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Lights, Camera, Action - Cue the Sequestration!

Forests' Role as Carbon-Storage 'Technology' take Spotlight in TV News Segments on Climate Change

Thousands of people who wouldn't normally associate forests with climate change have learned just how important our vast and vital woodlands are to earth's atmosphere, thanks to a series of syndicated TV news segments facilitated by Al Gore's Alliance for Climate Protection.

Laurie Wayburn, president and co-founder of the Pacific Forest Trust, was tapped by the Alliance to serve as an expert for the series. Titled "Brighter Living," the series is designed to educate the general public about climate change and how we can address it. The syndicated spots ran in several regional markets around the country.

Inclusion of forests in the series is yet another signal of how prominent woodlands have become in the national policy dialog on climate change solutions.

Wayburn's interviews were used in four of the more than 30 spots that ran throughout July and August. You can view them (and learn how forests sequester carbon) on our YouTube channel. Link directly to the clips below:

Tree Die Offs
Three Billion Trees
Sea How It Is?
Biological Sequestration

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Forest Champions Gather for Forest Fete '09

USDA's Jay Jensen to Deliver Keynote Speech; PFT Honors Calif. State Senator Fran Pavley for Her Leadership on Behalf of America’s Climate and Natural Landscapes

SAN FRANCISCO – Supporters of America's working forests will gather at the Presidio’s Golden Gate Club on September 9 to honor some of the nation’s leading forest and climate champions at Forest Fete 2009, the Pacific Forest Trust's (PFT) annual dinner and awards ceremony.

The theme of this year's event is In Forests We Trust, an affirmation in these tough economic times of the myriad benefits our forests provide: wood, water, wildlife and well-balanced climate. The Pacific Forest Trust community will celebrate its forest and climate champions, whose work ensures our woodlands will continue to provide these valuable ecosystem services.

“This year’s awardees – California State senator Fran Pavley and foresters Don Beaty and W.M. Beaty and Associates – have done a tremendous job of providing leadership in the area of climate solutions and sustainable forestry,” says Laurie Wayburn, president and co-founder of the Pacific Forest Trust.

Jay Jensen, the USDA Deputy Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment with responsibility for the U.S. Forest Service, will deliver the evening’s keynote speech. He will describe the new administration’s approach to forests, water and the climate during his keynote speech, titled: “Reconnecting People to the Land through Climate and Water.” Jensen also plans to speak on what the Department of Agriculture is doing to create incentives across the forest landscape to restore and conserve the many ecosystem services our forests provide.

Jensen has oversight for the U.S. Forest Service, which manages 193 million acres of National Forest System lands and helps provide assistance to more than 10 million private forest landowners. His mission area also overlaps with the National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), the federal agency with primary responsibility for working with private landowners to help them conserve, restore and, enhance their natural resources.

California State Senator Fran Pavley (D) will be honored for her successful work advancing California Senate Bill 144, state legislation that ensures the climate impacts of forest loss are fully mitigated. The bill passed the state Senate in June and has moved to the Assembly. She is co-author of the landmark Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (AB 32) and the author of AB 1493 – widely known as “Pavley Law” – a fuel economy standard adopted by other states around the country as a means of reducing emissions from automobiles. The Obama Administration directed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to adopt the fuel standard earlier this year.

Don Beaty and W.M. Beaty and Associates has been named as Forest Champions of the Year. The forestry consultants have been exceptionally effective advocates for the stewardship and conservation of working forests, both in word and deed. Working with the owners of more than 300,000 acres in the key Klamath-Cascade region, they have demonstrated how these forests can be managed to benefit succeeding generations of people, communities and critters. As president and general manager of W.M. Beaty and Associates, Don Beaty in particular has bridged historically diverse stakeholder groups in a common pursuit of sustainable forestry.

“Our Forest Fete awardees this year have been extremely effective at bringing people together in support of sustainable forestry, conservation and climate action,” Wayburn says. “Senator Pavley and Don Beaty should be commended for the work they’ve done to champion our natural landscapes and the multiple values they provide us all,” Wayburn says.

Forest Fete 2009 is being presented by Pacific Gas & Electric Company and K&L Gates. Supporting sponsors include Ecohaus, Evolution Markets, Humboldt Redwood Company, Mendocino Redwood Company, Sullivan & Worcester and WM Beaty & Associates. Several dozen more businesses and individuals also will help bring Forest Fete to life.

MEDIA COVERAGE
Digital headshots of the award winners are available. Media seeking to cover the event MUST call in advance to arrange for access. Contact PFT Communications Director Chris Harrison at 415-561-0700 ext. 13 for details or e-mail charrison [at] pacificforest.org.

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