The forests are an important part of the southern Appalachian Mountains, but according to many indigenous traditions, they hold more significance than just the resources they provide.
“When the forests are gone, we lose more than just the oxygen they release, we lose more than just the resources they provide, we lose the wisdom of the trees,” said Erin Everett, a weather worker and tradition-holder in the Nahua lineage in Mexico.
Partnered with the Dogwood Alliance, an Asheville-based forest conservation group, Everett led an event titled “The Stories Trees Tell” in the UNC Asheville Botanical Gardens on Oct. 13. Participants selected a tree in the gardens, spent time meditating and listening to what it had to say then gathered together to share their observations.
“When we were little we saw magic in everything, we saw sacredness in everything, but we’ve been kind of talked out of that as we grow older,” Everett said. “In my experience of the indigenous understandings and cultures that I’ve been exposed to, children would be encouraged. Sometimes their connection with the world around them can help adults. To me, the thing I love about working with indigenous wisdom and bringing that to modern people is that it really gives us something to do to help build that relationship back again.”
“Would it hurt to just go back to some of those ways, not giving up our technology, not giving up our cars but being grateful for those things and being grateful for the world around us who has provided us with so much electricity and all these comforts that we have in modern life?” Everett asked. “If we just add gratefulness and gratitude to the equation, there’s balance.”
Following individual time with their trees, participants gathered to share their findings with one another.
“What sacred witnesses trees are, how many joyful moments they get to see,” said Ash Wahl, an Asheville resident who said she frequently talks to trees.
Wahl hopes to do a similar event with children through her organization the Ash Tree Faery.
“I found it really amazing the things that you can learn by not putting it in a category,” said Alyssa Melton, a junior ecology and environmental biology student. “I just felt really connected to it.”
“The Dogwood Alliance was honored to have Erin,” said Kimala Luna, a representative of the organization. “She always finds a way to inspire others and instill the mission of forest protection.”
Everett said she hopes events like these can inspire forest protection by helping people recognize the significance of nature.
“It’s like we’re falling asleep in the illusion of our own independence, that human beings don’t need anything else,” Everett said. “But we’re going to find out, and we are finding out, that we do.”
“I really enjoy helping modern people connect with indigenous traditional wisdom and apply it to modern life in a way that’s really practical and sustainable,” Everett said. “It’s really the most practical way of living, the way these people live and to me it’s the ultimate sustainability knowing how to make relationships with the trees and forests and with nature, like we did tonight.”
This year, Terrapin designated Dogwood as the beneficiary for their annual festival in Athens, GA.
Folks were not just excited for the festival, but they were also excited to Stand4Forests with their photo petitions!
We also had the pleasure of teaming up with our Georgia State Coordinator, Vicki Weeks.
2017 has been a record breaking year for natural disasters that have devastated communities across the Southern US and Puerto Rico. The season began with Hurricane Harvey that devastated Houston and hit close to home. We had record breaking storm after storm all the way through to Hurricane Maria and Nate which battered Puerto Rico and Mississippi. Our hearts are with the people who have been most directly impacted and we sincerely hope all that can and should be done is in order to ensure each and every one of them is respected and taken care of.
Today is the UN sponsored International Day of Disaster Reduction (IDDR). Nations and communities around the world are highlighting ways to better prepare for and prevent the most calamitous and disastrous impacts of natural disasters.
As we have seen this hurricane season, long-term degradation and neglect of natural systems have taken a major toll on our coastal communities.
For our part, we would like to forward what we consider to be our best defense against these disasters – forests.
Excess water drains better where there are healthy, intact, large areas of mature forests. When we keep forests standing along our riverbanks, there’s less erosion and less flooding inland. And as the flooding recedes, trees help to clean our drinking water.
For example, in the past three years the forests of the coastal South have become the largest source of wood pellet exports to Europe, where they are burned in power stations to generate electricity as a “climate friendly” alternative to coal. Logging, past and present, has significantly degraded US forests’ disaster-reducing capabilities, and a new path must forward must be created in order to restore US forests for these benefits.
On the IDDR last year, local politicians from across the region called on the European Union to stop subsidizing the destruction of Southern forests. Our favorite quote came from James Holmes, Chatham County, GA Commissioner:
“Forests are one of our best defenses against natural disasters. Whether it’s flooding, landslides, storm surges, droughts, or hurricanes, forests play a vital role in the protection of lives and livelihoods. No matter what type of storm threatens our local communities, allowing natural forests to remain intact is a cost-effective investment and helps save the lives of our citizens.”
We could not more wholeheartedly agree! That is why we joined with landowners, community groups, conservation organizations, and more to launch the Wetland Forest Initiative earlier this year. This ambitious conservation initiative, focused on conserving, restoring and improving wetland forests, which span 35 million acres across 14 Southern states, represents a unified effort to secure a safer, healthier and more economically just and prosperous future for the rural South.
The Wetland Forest Initiative is as much about protecting people as it is about protecting wildlife and birds. It’s as much about saving taxpayer money as it is about saving species. It’s as much about safeguarding our communities from natural disasters as it is about improving the economic conditions for rural southerners and creating more options for landowners. It’s as much about maintaining the diversity within the forest as it is about embracing the wisdom in the diversity of people that define the Southern culture. And, it’s as much about the here and now as it is about the legacy that we leave for future generations.
As storms become more frequent and intense, coastal communities need to strengthen defenses not weaken them. Our Southern forests provide vital protection from extreme weather and we cannot afford to lose any more. To ensure our economic prosperity, to protect our health and children, to ensure our security and safety, and to protect our wildlife we need to act now to keep natural forests intact.
On September 26th, representatives from the North Carolina Legislative Black Caucus attended a Listening Panel in Dobbins Heights to hear comments on the proposed Enviva Wood Pellet Facility. Representative Garland Pierce (District 48), Representative Kelly Alexander (District 107), and Legislative Aide Michael Wilson (Representative Chaz Beasley, District 92) attended the Listening Panel.
Rep. Garland Pierce, whose constituents in Dobbins Heights will be directly affected by the wood pellet facility, said:
“The voices of citizens in rural counties, like in my district, need to be listened to locally and on the state level.”
Debbie Short & Nora Jones standing up for Richmond County
When facilitator and Climate Justice Activist Nakisa Glover asked the room of approximately 50 people how many were from Dobbins Heights, nearly all of the room raised their hand. When asked how many had suffered from or knew someone who suffered from cancer or asthma, once more, nearly all in the room raised their hand.
In the one hour period that was given for public comment, 10 Richmond County residents gave comment, and 8 comments came from outside of the community. Of those comments, 12 were in opposition to Enviva, and 5 were in favor, which included 4 comments from Enviva representatives.
Most comments alluded to the health concerns people have with the plant coming in. Brenda David, a Richmond County resident and mother, delivered a letter to be read to the Commissioners:
“I have a lot of family here in Dobbins Heights, my children play at the park as well as play in their grandmother’s yard. The health issues from this industry can cause big concerns for me, not only for my kids and family but for anyone who has to breath in this pollution.”
Kim McCall, a member of Concerned Citizens of Richmond County, speaks out against Enviva
Richmond County resident Tavares Bostic said:
“When big companies come in, they don’t see the people, they don’t see us. They see dollars and cents.”
Perhaps the biggest concern of local residents was the fact that their community was never given a public hearing. In 2015, under the McCrory Administration, NC DEQ issued an air quality permit for Enviva without giving public notice, resulting in a lawsuit by Southern Environmental Law Center on behalf of the Concerned Citizens or Richmond County.
“We deserve a chance to know,” said Dobbins Heights Resident Debra David.
Concerned Citizens of Richmond County member, Debra David, speaks out for her community
Southern forests and communities are in danger. Enviva, the world’s largest pellet producer, wants to build its fourth wood pellet facility in the state of NC and clearcut nearly 50 acres of forest every day. The community that Enviva wants to build in, Richmond County, doesn’t want the facility and are raising their voices to stop it.
Dozens of Southern and even national organizations have signed onto a lettercalling on the Governor to revoke the permit, and last week over 600 people picked up their phones to personally call the Governor and shout the message louder, “Protect forests and communities: Stop Enviva!”Kim McCall, a community member of Concerned Citizens of Richmond County, explained that she called Governor Cooper’s office because: “It’s about time somebody stood up.”
This couldn’t be more true. As Cary Rodgers, pastor for Pathway to Peace Ministries and BREDL organizer puts it, “We have to fight this for our children. We have to fight this for the future. We have to fight this to save our health.” In 2016, Richmond County was ranked 90 out of 100 counties in North Carolina for health outcomes.
Wood pellet facilities emit air pollutants directly and indirectly that are harmful to human health. One of these air pollutants, fine particulate matter (PM2.5), can cause numerous health issues, most notably adverse respiratory and cardiovascular health effects. In 2010, the American Heart Association deemed particulate matter a modifiable factor in heart disease and a key contributor to premature deaths (Brook et al. 2010). In 2016, the American Lung Association stated it does not support biomass combustion for energy generation because of the adverse health effects from air pollutants emitted during production (American Lung Association, 2016).
Dogwood Alliance’s 2nd Annual Woods & Wilds Storytelling and Music Festival at the Salvage Station was magical!
The beautiful decorations from Flora set the scene for us to be transported to the wild places inside ourselves.
Storytellers like Lianna Costantino of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma moved us. She told us of the birth of disease and medicine, of the trauma of the Cherokee people past down across the generations, and of her experience walking the Trail of Tears with an Elder.
To ground and center us, we took outdoor yoga classes with Inner Wild Yoga and Inspired Change Yoga.
Our partners from LEAF Community Arts infused the festival with an artistic spirit by working with kids and adults alike to create.
Our friends at WNC Nature Center brought along their Ambassa-Tortoise and shared their knowledge and experiences of the creatures who inhabit our Southern forests.
We built up quite an appetite and munched on the cookies made from foraged acorns that Glorious Forest provided free of charge.
The Faerie Kin with their stiltwalkers, winged creatures, and music makers brought the magic of the forest to life with their performance!
We enjoyed the beautiful weather and each other’s company for many hours.
We also got down with unforgettable live music! The bluegrass, Americana band Sherri Lynn & Mountain Friends kicked off the performances.
The ensemble band Dub Kartel added a festive reggae flavor to the night.
Then The Threadbare Skivvies alternately crooned to us with soulful lyrics and got us stomping and clapping with their banjo playing and funky beats.
The Get Right Band got us to our feet with their rock-infused, catchy harmonies.
LYRIC closed out the night with their powerful performance and their reminder to us that together we can make a difference in the world, if we stand together.
We couldn’t have had such an amazing day without: RISC Networks, Terrapin Beer Co, Asheville Grit, Diamond Brand Outdoors, Larry’s Coffee, Earth Equity Advisors, Asheville T-Shirt Company, Foot RX, Inner Wild Yoga, and French Broad Chocolates!
WNC Nature Center, LEAF Community Arts, Inspired Change Yoga, Asheville Farmstead School, Glorious Forest, The Block Off Biltmore, 350 Asheville, Flora, WNC Renewables Coalition, Keep Knoxville Beautiful, Sierra Club of WNC, Indivisible WNC, Community Roots, and Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League: we so admire everything you do and all the work they put into this festival
You are the heart and soul of the forest protection movement. You inspire us each and every day to keep standing with our forests and standing with the people of the South!
One of the very first things I exclaimed to my parents about Houston, as we drove a giant U-Haul down from Oklahoma City, was how green our new city home was. I was 12 at the time, and Houston was a veritable forest oasis to me. The neighborhood I lived in had wild forested lots just behind it, perfect for kids to explore and walk through.
Photo Credit: Marie D. De Jesus
Back then, the country was just a pleasant 20 minute drive from where we lived: farmland, thickly dotted with live oaks, maples, giant elms, and a host of Slash, Shortleaf ,and Longleaf pine. Now, the Woodlands and Sugarland–idyllic country names–are hubs of strip malls and housing developments–the epitome of Houston suburbia. By the time I left for college in North Carolina five years later, we had to travel nearly 45 minutes to get to the country, to the wild places that kept getting pushed further out.
It wasn’t the fault of any one person or even group of people. It was economics and geography–Houston is an affordable port city which rebounded rapidly after the Texas oil bust in the 1980’s. My parents continued to live in Houston for another 25 years after I left. During that time, I saw the city go from green to mostly gray. Each trip home revealed another lost portion of the oasis. The wild lots behind my house were logged, graded, and turned into a network of big box stores. The housing developments and the parking lots expanded so far in all directions that now the Houston-Woodlands-Sugarland Metroplex is the 4th largest in the country with an area bigger than the state of Massachusetts.
A few inches of rain over a couple of hours was enough to create dangerous flash flooding in my neighborhood, with street water cresting the tops of the curbs before slowly draining into the surrounding bayous. What could three feet of rain do? What could five? I stayed glued to Facebook, happy to see the safe badges pop up on friends’ profiles. Fortunately, all my old high school friends and members of my mom’s former church are safe. Many lost homes though. Some had to evacuate to their neighbors’ as they helplessly watched the rising waters invade their homes and destroy their possessions. Some stayed in shelters, not knowing what they’d return to, if anything. I saw pictures of friends carrying their cats, dogs, and children (sometimes all at once) under their arms as they walked up the rivers in their neighborhoods that had once been the streets we played on.After everyone was mostly dry, and while dump trucks from other cities in Texas were starting to haul off trillions of pounds of damaged floors and furniture, conversations turned to questions of what could have happened differently.
If only we’d gotten flood insurance. If only we’d moved out of the city years ago…
Photo Credit: REUTERS/Nick Oxford
Over the next several weeks, while Southern communities would be pounded first by Harvey, then by Irma, from the Florida Keys to South Texas to the coasts of the Carolinas to inland Tennessee, we’ve read countless articles linking the devastation wrought by these storms with the undeniable fact of climate change.
The solutions to surviving climate change as a species are truly daunting. Many of us can recite them by heart. We have to get off fossil fuels. We have to keep global temperature increases to a mere 1.5 degrees. Doing these things means we need to rethink our consumption, our economies, and our policies. We need to keep the pressure on our government to meet the challenges of climate change instead of denying that they exist.
Standing forests protect against flooding. Excess water drains better where there are healthy, intact, large areas of mature forests. When we keep forests standing along our riverbanks, there’s less erosion and less flooding inland. And as the flooding recedes, trees help to clean our drinking water.
If only we had made this a priority in the South for the last 100 years. Even the last 50. The last 20. Might things be different now?“If only” questions, as an exercise in reflective thinking, are only as good as the solutions that follow. Live and learn. We have an urgent need to solve climate problems now. We need to adopt forest protection policies throughout the South now. We need to stand up to the logging industry and demand better standards now. We need to recreate our skewed economics so that we value forests for the services they provide instead of the potential products they can be turned into–now. Obviously, yesterday was too late.
I am hopeful. The people of Houston have always been my favorite thing about the city. Certainly not the heat, the humidity, or the traffic. So, it was not surprising to me to see Houstonians reaching out to one another in a grand effort to save absolutely as many people as possible. It’s one of our better, human qualities, this ability to put our opinions on the back burner long enough to respond in a crisis: to help, to save, to give, to fix.We know what we need to do, right? We know what the solutions are.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – 19 September, 2017Danish Pension Fund’s green credentials questioned due to investments that promote burning forests to generate electricityNew briefing by leading NGOs places The Danish Pension Fund – PKA in direct conflict with its stated commitment to responsible investment in the face of climate change. PKA has acquired 50% of shares in the UK company MGT Teesside, which is building the world’s largest purpose-built biomass power station at Teesport, UK. Yet, leading climate science and documented on-the-ground evidence have made it clear that the MGT Teesside biomass power station will be bad for the climate, forests, and local communities. ASHEVILLE, NC, USA – Despite priding itself for its socially and environmentally responsible investment, one of the Danish Pension Fund’s largest energy holdings is seriously undermining its green credibility. This has led to a strong call from an international coalition of NGO’s for PKA to divest from the destructive project.
In 2016, PKA acquired 50% of shares in the UK company MGT Teesside, which is building the world’s largest purpose-built biomass power station at Teesport. The plant will burn up to 1.5 million tonnes of wood pellets a year, which equates to about 3 million tonnes of green wood, also known as freshly harvested trees.
Approximately 1 million tonnes of the pellets will be supplied by Enviva, a US wood pellet producer known to source wood from clearcut coastal hardwood forests in the US south as well as siting their facilities directly alongside low-income and typically communities of color that are already suffering environmental impacts from a variety of polluting industries. In response, a coalition of NGOs from the US, UK, Denmark, and Australia released a new briefing outlining the negative impacts of PKA’s investment on the climate, forests, and local communities and demanding they divest.
The assumption that wood-based bioenergy is inherently carbon neutral continues to be discredited by a large and growing number of peer-reviewed studies and science reviews. This includes reports by the independent UK think-tank Chatham House, the European Academies Science Advisory Council (EASAC), and the UK’s former Department of Energy and Climate Change. Increased logging of forests and their combustion for bioenergy releases large quantities of CO2, while significantly reducing carbon sequestration by these forests for decades, thus seriously undermining efforts to stabilise global temperatures.
Enviva, with whom MGT Teesside has signed a wood-pellet supply agreement, is based in the North Atlantic Coastal Plain region of the US South. This region was declared a global biodiversity hotspot in 2016 and contains some of the most biodiverse temperate forest and freshwater ecosystems in the world. Enviva’s own data shows that at least half of the wood it sources is obtained from native hardwood forests and years of on-the-ground documentation has clearly shown that Enviva sources from biodiverse wetland forests. When Enviva logs for wood pellets, there is no guarantee that these precious forests will ever grow back.
The Enviva wood-pellet manufacturing facility currently proposed in rural Richmond County, North Carolina and meant to supply the MGT Teesside power station is facing escalating local community resistance due to the negative health, quality of life, and long-term economic impacts. A large coalition of groups lead by the Concerned Citizens of Richmond County have called on North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper to revoke Enviva’s air-quality permit to build the facility by delivering over 10,000 petitions to the Governor’s office demanding action. Recently, over 50 health professionals from the US South wrote Governor Cooper demanding that the facility permit be revoked.
Organizations made the following statements:
“We’ve seen first-hand the destruction of our precious hardwood forests and witnessed serious impacts to the health of rural communities at the hands of wood pellet facilities,” said Adam Macon, Program Director at Dogwood Alliance. “If PKA is truly committed to addressing climate change through its investments, then they need to immediately state their intent to divest from the MGT Teesside Biomass facility.”
“All this damage to the forest ecosystem and then burning of the wood for electricity actually exacerbates climate change.” Peg Putt, Markets for Change
” MGT Teesside is building a high-carbon polluting power station. It seeks to cash in on large renewable energy subsidies, which ought to be going to genuinely low-carbon wind and solar power.” Almuth Ernsting, BiofuelWatch
“A misleading label on bioenergy as a CO2-neutral form of renewable energy has now led to the devastating investment by a Danish pension fund in a British biomass power station. This is embarrassing.” Bente Hessellund Andersen, NOAH – Friends of the Earth Denmark
“Due to the sheer size of the proposed plant and the fact that PKA has failed to provide us with sufficient documentation regarding the supposedly “sustainable” sourcing of the woody biomass to be used, we are extremely worried that Teesside Biomass Facility will result in serious and irreplaceable loss of biodiversity” Andreas Petersen, Verdens Skove (Forests of the World)
Download the brief here: https://www.dogwoodalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/PKA-divestment-briefing.pdf
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Press Contacts:
Adam Macon, Dogwood Alliance (US), +1(828)713-0047, [email protected]
Almuth Ernsting, BiofuelWatch (UK),+44 131 6232600, [email protected]
Andreas Petersen, Verdens Skove (Denmark), +45 71593354, [email protected]
Bente Hessellund, NOAH (Denmark),+45 2929 4527, [email protected]
Dogwood Alliance is grateful for all the health professionals who joined the movement calling on Governor Cooper to protect residents of Richmond County, NC from dangerous air pollution caused by an Enviva wood pellet facility. This week, more than 50 health professionals sent a letter to Governor Cooper and NCDEQ, urging him to protect public health.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASESeptember 7, 2017
Contact: Rachel McIntosh-Kastrinsky MAHA Manager, Clean Air Carolina 984-244-0036 or [email protected]
Charlotte, NC – Medical Advocates for Healthy Air members sent a letter today to Governor Roy Cooper asking him to protect the health of Richmond County residents by revoking Air Quality Permit No. 10365R02 from the wood pellet facility that is proposed to be built in Hamlet, North Carolina by Enviva Pellets Hamlet, LLC. The letter outlines the health and environmental issues Richmond County residents already face and would be exacerbated by the Enviva biomass facility.
“Wood pellet manufacturing releases large amounts of particulate matter, volatile organic compounds, formaldehyde and other recognized air pollutants that have been shown to cause cancer, cardiopulmonary disease and premature death,” said Robert Parr, DO, Medical Advocates for Healthy Air board member and letter signee. Dr. Parr continues, “To protect citizens, all industrial operations in Richmond County must limit their air emissions to the greatest extent possible by using state of the art pollution controls, safeguards that are missing in the present permit.”
Wood pellet facilities emit air pollutants directly and indirectly that are harmful to human health. One of these air pollutants, fine particulate matter (PM2.5), can cause numerous health issues, most notably adverse respiratory and cardiovascular health effects. In 2010, the American Heart Association deemed particulate matter a modifiable factor in heart disease and a key contributor to premature deaths (Brook et al. 2010). In 2016, the American Lung Association stated it does not support biomass combustion for energy generation because of the adverse health effects from air pollutants emitted during production (American Lung Association, 2016).
In 2015, the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) issued an air quality permit (No. 10365R02) to Enviva which violates air quality regulations. Richmond County residents currently face air pollutants caused by Duke Energy, Piedmont Natural Gas, Perdue Chicken Plant, the CSX rail line and coal ash. The additional air pollutants emitted by this proposed Enviva wood pellet in Richmond County will cause an added and unnecessary burden of disease on residents.
Health professionals request that Governor Cooper protect public health by directing the Department of Environmental Quality to revoke the flawed air quality permit.
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Medical Advocates for Healthy Air (MAHA) is a statewide network of medical and health professionals leading the call for cleaner air. MAHA members learn about the health impacts of air quality so that they can help their patients and advocate for strong, clean air policies.Clean Air Carolina is a nonprofit organization based in Charlotte, NC with a satellite office in the Triangle. Our mission is to ensure cleaner air quality for all North Carolinians through education and advocacy and by working with our partners to reduce sources of pollution.ReferencesAmerican Lung Association. 2016. “Public Policy Position – Energy American Lung Association.” http://www.lung.org/get-involved/become-an-advocate/public-policy-position-energy.html.Brook, Robert D, Sanjay Rajagopalan, C Arden Pope, Jeffrey R Brook, Aruni Bhatnagar, Ana V Diez-Roux, Fernando Holguin, et al. 2010. “Particulate Matter Air Pollution and Cardiovascular Disease: An Update to the Scientific Statement from the American Heart Association.” Circulation 121 (21): 2331–78. doi:10.1161/CIR.0b013e3181dbece1.University of Wisconsin. 2016. “Richmond County, North Carolina: County Health Rankings & Roadmaps.” County Health Rankings. http://www.countyhealthrankings.org/app/north-carolina/2017/rankings/richmond/county/outcomes/overall/snapshot.
Not only are they the best way to remove carbon from the atmosphere and store it long-term, but they protect our most vulnerable communities from the worst impacts of climate change by providing natural flood control and air conditioning and ensuring abundant clean drinking water. They also contribute to our overall well-being through providing a place to recreate and find spiritual renewal.
Forest protection emerged as a climate priority in the wake of the Paris Climate Agreement. In order to meet the ambitious goal to limit temperature increases to 1.5 degrees Celsius, we must not only drastically cut carbon emissions but also reduce the high concentrations of carbon currently in the atmosphere. The best strategy for aggressively removing carbon from the atmosphere is to scale up forest protection around the world.
About ten years ago, after a successful grassroots campaign to convince the world’s largest retailers of paper products to adopt forest protection policies, Dogwood teamed up with Staples to lead a collaborative effort to protect forests in the Southeast, the region hit hardest by paper production. Over beer at Jack of the Wood in Asheville, Mark Buckley of Staples, Andrew Goldberg, former Dogwood staff member and current Director of the Appalachian Woodlands Alliance at Rainforest Alliance, and I discussed how the newly emerging carbon market might act as a powerful tool to protect forests.
The concept was fairly simple. If landowners could generate revenue for the carbon benefits associated with leaving trees standing more landowners would choose conservation-based management over destructive, industrial clearcutting. But the concept was just a concept without proof.
Driven by optimism and our belief that forests are one of our best defenses against climate change, we recruited a diverse coalition of landowners, conservation organizations, and corporations, including some of the biggest wood and paper product retailers and producers. This unlikely collaboration made up of Dogwood Alliance, Staples, Domtar, Home Depot, Columbia Forest Products, Forestland Group, Pacific Forest Trust, EcoForesters and many more, set out to pilot the region’s first rigorous forest carbon projects to test our theory and if it worked, to take the pilot projects to scale with a goal of getting hundreds of thousands of acres of forests into carbon management.
At the end of the day, this project was an experiment; it was risky as it had not been done before. As with any experiment, this project provided a rich opportunity for learning. In this case we were learning about how to quantify the carbon value of forests, how to navigate the technical complexities of forest carbon standards, how to access forest carbon markets, and what it was going to take to bring ambitious, paradigm-shifting projects to scale.
At the time, this was a whole new field, and we experimented together to learn the ins and outs of forest carbon and how to realize its economic value as a way to keep more trees standing and incentivize better management of working forests in the world’s largest wood producing region.
We completed one of the first projects in the country to meet the rigorous standards of the laws of the nation’s first and only viable carbon market in California. It required a lot of testing of different landowners, sizes, models, and certifiers. We learned that with smaller landowners (the vast majority in the South) managing for carbon isn’t feasible at this time. However, for larger innovative landowners it can work. In fact our first successful project was with the Forestland Group — one of the nation’s largest corporate forestland owners, on a 9,000 acre tract in Virginia. Since that project The Forestland Group has applied our model to put nearly a quarter of a million acres of forestland in carbon management, essentially leaving these trees standing.
We are deeply grateful for The Forestland Group and their willingness to embrace the kind of leading-edge change and innovation in the business sector that will be necessary to effectively address climate change. They literally went out on a limb with us, taking business risks that too few corporate landowners have been willing to take. They are a true role model, trendsetter and innovator in the forestry sector.
With any pioneering effort there were a lot of valuable lessons learned as a result of our work, including:
There is growing awareness among top economists that we need new economic models that actually recognize the value of the services that nature provides and the costs of degradation. Essentially, we must leave more trees standing and let more forests grow old again if we are to solve the climate crisis. If we did this, we would not only avoid climate catastrophe but also enjoy the multiple other benefits of standing forests. The Carbon Canopy Project developed some valuable tools in the struggle against climate change. It’s not a silver bullet, and we don’t need everyone to get carbon credits, but we do need to continue to invest in this kind of work, finding new ways to value standing forests.
In addition to catalyzing the management of 250,000 acres of forests for carbon benefits, the collaboration of the Carbon Canopy Project also led to the creation of new projects designed to tackle some of the biggest obstacles we faced. Rainforest Alliance, Domtar, Staples, Columbia Forest Products, and others launched the Appalachian Woodlands Alliance to work with small landowners in the region to overcome the barriers of cost and technical knowledge to increase the amount of working forests that are getting certified and managed better.
At Dogwood Alliance, working with another unique set of partners, we launched the Wetlands Forest Initiative this year with the mission to conserve, restore, and improve Southern wetland forests to strengthen our communities through science-based actions, diverse partnerships, and citizen and landowner engagement. The coastal plains of the South where many of these wetlands are found have some of the country’s highest carbon values and are critical to protecting our region’s most vulnerable communities from the worst impacts of climate change. While their value for timber is relatively low, their value for carbon, flood control and water protection are high.
We want to give special thanks to the many companies and foundations that invested in the Carbon Canopy work, including Home Depot, Coca-Cola, Merck Family Fund, Interface Global, Blue Moon Fund, Walker Foundation, Lyndhurst Fund, Oak Hill Fund and NRCS.
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