NORTH AMERICA The ancient forests of northwestern North America stretch from the redwoods of northern California
to the Sitka spruce and Douglas fir of southeastern Alaska. Forests help slow global warming by
storing and sequestering carbon. The total biomass of temperate forests, estimated to be between 500
and 2000 metric tons per hectare, exceeds that of tropical rain forests.
Partner:
The Climate Trust
Initiative:
to offset carbon through the Greenhouse Gas Partnership Program
Offsets Are Part of the Solution
says FOC International Chairman Jorie Butler Kent, "projects implemented specifically
to counteract the level of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are critical to mitigating
the effects of climate change."
Projects in the Offset Portfolio of the Greenhouse Gas Partnership Program include
energy efficiency, transportation efficiency, renewable energy and reforestation.
In the Deschutes River Basin in Washington State, the program recruits private land-
owners to reforest rivers and streams in an effort to repair the overall health of this
riparian area impacted by logging and livestock grazing, and generate Greenhouse
Gas offsets.
In the Arlecho Creek watershed near Mt. Vernon, Washington, the Lummi Indian
Tribe has purchased more than 1,654 acres of previously logged historical tribal
forest land. Through the 'Preservation of a Native Northwest Forest' project, it will be protected from logging and managed to permanent old growth.
The Greenhouse Gas Partnership Program purchases offsets from this project, which
will capture 350,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide over the next century. A 100-year
old conservation easement will help ensure that old growth forests develop and are preserved, and the site will be used as an education laboratory for Northwest Indian
College, educating students there as well as from other schools, and facilitating research
on halting global warming through the sequestration of carbon dioxide in forests.
Reforestation of the land, which is a sanctuary for the traditional religious practices
of the Lummi Tribe, will also help sustain important salmon and endangered species
habitat.
