County Forest and Carbon Credits

Last December, the Eau Claire County Board adopted a carbon credit program for the county forest. Under this program, the county will be compensated for doing the kind of sustainable forestry we’ve been doing all along. This is done through selling carbon credits on a voluntary carbon market.

 A carbon credit is a tradeable certificate confirming that one metric ton of carbon dioxide, or an equivalent greenhouse gas, is averted from entering the environment in a given year. Companies trying to reduce their carbon footprints can buy carbon credits on a voluntary international carbon credit market.

Not all of the 52,000-acre Eau Claire County Forest is eligible for the carbon program. Marshes and grasslands and lakes don’t count. Our county parks aren’t included. We maintain a 300-foot buffer on county lands bordering the Eau Claire River and have three wilderness areas where we have no commercial harvests.

But that still leaves 37,845 acres where we are having timber harvests and which fit the criteria for the carbon program. Those lands should produce about 714,000 voluntary carbon credits over the first 10 years of the program. At current market prices those credits would sell for an estimated $9.46 million.

This program won't affect our timber management practices. We can still clearcut to regenerate aspen and jack pine. We could still do controlled burns, if needed, to regenerate oaks. We can maintain the diverse forest we have. Timber sales generate about $1 million per year. That will continue.

Our Forest and Parks director suggested we think of carbon credits as another product of the forest. We cut trees to make paper and timber products. Now we will be harvesting carbon credits.

Note: This story, written by Joe Knight, appeared in full in the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram, Volume One Magazine, and Wisconsin Outdoor News.

For the full version of the story, or to get more details, click here:
Carbon Credits Will Aid County Coffers