The 23,780-acre Garcia River Forest is in the heart of the Redwood region of California’s North Coast, just 100 miles from San Francisco in Mendocino County. In February 2008, the forest became one of the first forests – and the largest – to receive certification of its carbon offsets by the California Climate Action Registry.
Like most large timbered properties in the region and the country, Garcia River Forest was owned by a succession of timber companies. This history of intensive industrial timber management left a legacy of depleted inventories of merchantable timber, a network of fragile roads on steep slopes of eroding soils and miles of spawning habitat for salmon and steelhead clogged with sediments.
Garcia River Forest could only generate a modest amount of timber income over the next few decades. However, The Conservation Fund felt that, with supplemental income from carbon credit sales, there might be enough revenue to sustain a not-for-profit owner that could reduce expenses and raise public and philanthropic funds to support the management necessary to rebuild commercial timber inventories, upgrade roads and restore stream conditions.
The purchase of Garcia River Forest in 2004 established the first large nonprofit-owned working forest in California. Today, The Conservation Fund continues to sustainably manage this working forest. The Nature Conservancy scientists, who assisted in developing the forest’s management plan, conduct forest-carbon research and monitor biodiversity conservation on the property.
Garcia River Forest comprises one third of the watershed of Garcia River and contains a magnificent expanse of redwoods and Douglas firs. The redwood forest type that dominates Garcia River is remarkably resilient and productive: redwood trees sprout from stumps, there are few pests or diseases and the forest can produce lumber that is uniquely beautiful, durable and valuable. Garcia River is recognized by the California Department of Fish and Game as a high priority for protection and recovery of the state- and federal-listed coho salmon and steelhead trout. The property also supports Northern spotted owl and numerous other rare plants and animals.
As it grows, a tree absorbs, or sequesters, carbon dioxide (CO2), a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change. Whole forests can trap considerable levels of carbon. In fact, scientists estimate that deforestation, or the loss of forests, accounts for roughly 20% of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.
Redwood forests store more carbon per acre than any other forest type on earth. Sustainable forest management of Garcia River Forest currently enables the storage of more than 77,000 tons of carbon emissions annually, which is the equivalent of taking more than 14,000 cars off the road every year.
In 2005, the California Climate Action Registry developed rigorous and comprehensive forestry protocols that provide a standardized method to accurately account for changes in carbon in forest projects. The Registry updated the protocols in 2007. Last fall, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) formally adopted these protocols, establishing a clear role for forestry in the state’s climate policy and adding economic value to forest carbon projects. CARB’s actions also make it the first government agency in the United States to adopt protocols for voluntary carbon offsets.
Garcia River Forest has become one of the first forests – and the largest – to receive certification of its carbon offsets by the California Climate Action Registry. By achieving the Registry’s high standard of carbon verification, Garcia River Forest is poised to offer the most reliable and valid carbon credits in the country to private companies and public organizations seeking to offset their greenhouse gas emissions. The Conservation Fund is already negotiating several major purchases of verifiable carbon credits to buyers interested in offsetting their manufacturing and business practices or banking the credits for regulated markets.
The Garcia River Forest – a Conservation Fund-owned forest on California’s North Coast – became one of the first forests – and the largest – recognized by the California Climate Action Registry as a certified source of carbon credits.
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