Forest Service & NFF Combat Climate Change

Forest Service and NFF Agreement

Today, in a first-of-a-kind agreement, the National Forest Foundation (NFF) entered the voluntary carbon market with a Carbon Calculator, a Web-based tool that will allow consumers to determine their carbon footprint, and a Carbon Capital Fund, that will allow consumers to offset their carbon footprint with a verified offset.

The U.S. Forest Service and NFF signed a Memorandum of Understanding today to officially launch the Carbon Capital Fund initiative. It will serve as an important model that will provide the opportunity to learn more about forest-based carbon sequestration and its role in voluntary carbon markets.

Sequestering Carbon

This offset program, the Carbon Capital Fund, will link consumers' offset investment to projects on National Forests to sequester additional carbon as well as improve water quality, increase wildlife habitat, and improve the ecological condition of our National Forests and Grasslands.

Trees are carbon "sinks," drawing large quantities of CO2 out of the atmosphere and storing it for long periods. The carbon accumulation potential in forests is large enough that forests offer the possibility of sequestering significant amounts of additional carbon in relatively short periods of time.

The U.S. Forest Service estimates that the nation’s forests sequester carbon at a rate that is equivalent to 10 percent to 15 percent of U.S. CO2 emissions. According to Forest Service scientists, we can raise that figure significantly by planting more trees.

Carbon Capital Fund

To realize more of this benefit, the NFF has established the Carbon Capital Fund solely dedicated to supporting implementation and third-party verification of projects that have a specific and measurable terrestrial carbon sequestration benefit.

"NFF is providing an opportunity for people to learn more about their carbon footprint while helping trees be planted on national forests. People have an opportunity to contribute to the health, diversity and productivity of the nation’s forests, not only by countering climate change”, said Forest Service Chief Gail Kimbell, “but also by replanting forests for the benefit of future generations”.

The Carbon Calculator is a Web-based tool that consumers can use to determine an individual, family or organization's carbon emissions. As an initial estimate for every $6 they donate, one metric ton of CO2 emissions is offset through pilot projects that the NFF is developing with the Forest Service. The estimated carbon offset from each project will be verified by an independent third party, Winrock International.

For many years, the Forest Service has entered into agreements with groups, non-governmental organizations and private entities that provide funds to plant trees on National Forest System land. Generally, these agreements provide that the donated funds will be used for reforestation where ever and under whatever conditions the agency deems appropriate. The Carbon Capital Fund initiative will provide the opportunity to learn more about forest-based carbon sequestration and its role in voluntary carbon markets.

"The beauty of the system we are here to announce today is that everyone in this room can go onto www.carboncapitalfund.org, and, in a matter of minutes, offset your own carbon emissions by purchasing carbon credits, while also augmenting the Forest Service’s capacity for restoring areas previously converted to agriculture, or impacted by wildfires," said Bill Possiel, president of the National Forest Foundation. "The benefits of increasing reforestation on NFS lands after wildfire include additional carbon sequestration, improved water quality, increased wildlife habitat, and improved ecological condition of National Forests and Grasslands."

Carbon Capital Fund Projects

Significant increases in wildfires on National Forest Lands have led to a greater need for reforestation. The Carbon Capital Fund will also invest in reforestation after other natural disasters as well as hardwood afforestation projects on recently acquired National Forest System lands.

The Forest Service has suggested several reforestation and afforestation pilot projects to undertake in partnership with NFF’s Carbon Capital Fund. Here are two examples:

The Custer National Forest, straddling Montana and South Dakota, will reforest approximately 500 acres burned in the Kraft Springs Fire with ponderosa pine seedlings to increase forest cover, benefit elk, mule deer, white-tailed deer and goshawk habitat, and improve watershed health.

The Payette National Forest in Idaho will reforest 1,400 acres with ponderosa pine, Douglas-fir, western larch, and Engelmann spruce in an area heavily damaged by a tornado that touched down new Bear, Idaho in June 2006. Restored forest habitat will benefit a myriad of wildlife and fish species.