Lane County weighs benefits of carbon sequestration
EUGENE, Ore. - Lane County Commissioners realize they have one of the best weapons against global warming: millions of acres of federal timber. Now, commissioners want to see if all those uncut trees can help boost the county's budget.
The county payments program from the feds was just revived this past fall, but commissioners are already looking to the future. They're thinking the county's long-term financial future may rest on the millions of trees not harvested.
We all learned it in grade school science. Trees soak up carbon dioxide in the air and produce oxygen. Multiply that by several million acres of timber land and you have carbon sequestration.
Carbon what?
"Standing timber absorbs carbon dioxide and there is a value to that," said Alex Cuyler, Lane County Intergovernmental Relations Manager.
West Lane Commissioner Bill Fleenor adds, "This is revolutionary."
Lane County Commissioners want to battle global warming and boost revenue at the same time. They are considering the money value of public forests for soaking up CO2 gases.
"What we're suggesting is, if there's a new value for standing timber in the form of carbon sequestration, that that value should be shared with Oregon counties, just as timber payments have been shared," Cuyler said.
A memo from the county administrator outlines the possibilities. Public forest lands in Lane County soak up nearly four million tons of CO2 each year. Officials assume a value of $12 per ton. That could result in annual payments to the county of $48 million.
Commissioner Peter Sorenson told a packed house at Monday's State-of-the-County address that "we'll be advocating that Northwest federal forests are a perfect place to help sequester carbon that's going into our nation's air."
Fleenor said many questions remain but "it's not something that we should brush aside as being too far out there. I do believe it's a serious opportunity."
Some experts question if policy makers can make carbon sequestration work, but commissioners say for the environment and Lane County's bottom line--it's worth the effort.
Officials say carbon sequestration fits right in with the Western Climate Initiative, supported by Governor Kulongoski. Some 90 percent of of the 2.95 million acres of land in Lane County is forest land.
