Texas Land Conservation Assistance Network

According to the US Forest Service, America's forests sequester 866 million tons of carbon a year, which is roughly 16% of the US annual emissions (depending on the year). Forests sequester or store carbon primarily in trees and soil. While they mainly pull carbon out of the atmosphere—making them a sink—they also release carbon dioxide. This occurs naturally, such as when a tree dies and is decomposed (thereby releasing carbon dioxide, methane, and other gases). The movement of carbon and other gases within forests and soils occurs on a cycle. Forest management can influence these cycles and enhance carbon capture.

Trees are without a doubt the best carbon capture technology in the world. They are an incredible carbon sink because - made entirely of carbon, they last for years as a standing tree, and takes years to break down after the tree dies. Reducing carbon emissions not only benefits the environment, but also has financial value. Healthy forests sequester carbon in their wood and vegetation along with the soil in which they grow. Conserving forest land promotes healthy air, water and soil, and helps to maintain the natural carbon cycle. By tapping into the carbon markets, forest landowners can get paid for the carbon their forests are storing. Forest owners who know the ecological and economic value of their forests can now add carbon sequestration as an official activity for their family forest and tap into a new revenue stream.

The big story in agriculture today is how carbon is going to be the next cash crop for farmers and ranchers. There are lots of headlines about how changing agricultural practices can remove carbon dioxide from the air and store it in the soil.

What’s grabbing attention is a nascent market blooming where private companies are paying real money to farmers and ranchers who can document increasing stores of carbon in their soils. The idea is the ag producers get some money for changing their practices while the private companies count the sequestered carbon against their own emissions.

While the science is sound, farming practices are just one component in the complex process of accumulation of carbon in the soil. Precipitation, soil type, carbon already present and other variables all factor into just how much of the element can be sequestered underground.

A mitigation bank is a wetland, stream, or other aquatic resource area that has been restored, established, enhanced, or (in certain circumstances) preserved for the purpose of providing compensation for unavoidable impacts to aquatic resources permitted under Section 404 or a similar state or local wetland regulation.1 A mitigation bank may be created when a government agency, corporation, nonprofit organization, or other entity undertakes these activities under a formal agreement with a regulatory agency. Mitigation banks have four distinct components:

1. Bank site: the physical acreage restored, established, enhanced, or preserved;
2. Bank instrument: the formal agreement between the bank owners and regulators establishing liability, performance standards, management and monitoring requirements, and the terms of bank credit approval;
3. Interagency Review Team (IRT): the interagency team that provides regulatory review, approval, and oversight of the bank; and
4. Service area: the geographic area in which permitted impacts can be compensated for at a given bank.