HomeMy WebLinkAboutClimate Action Committee Update re: Recommended Goals - 042224 Climate Action Committee Update
to Board of County Commissioners
Re Recommended Goals — Follow Up
•
CLIMATE
ACTION
COMMITTEE
APRIL 22ND, 2024
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Overview
On 2/26/24, we presented to you re the CAC
Recommendation regarding new E missions
and Sequestration goals, and agreed to
continue the discussion .
We will focus today on the prop osed carbon
sequestration goal and the rationale behind
it, and then will touch on the emissions goal
at the end
Proposed Sequestration Goal
Proposed New Carbon Sequestration Goals for
Jefferson County, excluding the Olympic
National Park and Wilderness areas ( ONPW)
By 2030: a 20% increase above the 2011-2016
baseline of 1.6 Million Metric Tons of CO2
( MMTCO2)/year, up to 2.0 MMTCO2
By 2050: an additional 20% increase to 2.3
MMTCO /year, for a total of 40% increase
above 2�11-2016 baseline
Rationale
for Sequestration Goal
From "Potential greenhouse gas reductions from Natural Climate
Solutions in Oregon, USA"
- "changes in forest-based activities including deferred timber harvest,
riparian reforestation, and replanting after wildfires contributed most to
potential GHG reductions"
- our calculations from that paper, focusing on forest-based activities,
results in 18-22% emissions reduction (increase in sequestration) by
2035 from the Oregon 2001-2016 baseline of forest carbon
sequestered). For 2050, forests results in 33-41% emissions reduction
(increase in sequestration) from baseline.
From " Leveraging the potential of
nature to meet net zero greenhouse
gas emissions in Washington State"
• Their model for extended timber harvest resulted in an
increase of carbon sequestration in Jefferson County by
2050 of between 0. 11-0.22 MMTCO2e/yr
• This is a 3% - 6% increase in carbon sequestration from
the 2011-2016 baseline of the CAC Forest Inventory by
2050.
• If that same increase was applied to the County
excluding ONPW, that would result in a 7 — 13%
increase.
• Adding in avoided conversion and riparian reforestation
increases this to 7-17%
• Note that modeling in that paper limited the amount of
extended harvest rotation to 40% of all private lands,
and to 32% of state lands.
Hypothetical Upper Limit for JeffCo
Using Data from Forest and Trees
GHG Inventory
• The Forest Inventory report analyzed the per acre
amount of carbon sequestration by ownership
type.
• Figure 12 of the report shows that the US Forest
Service ( USES) land had the highest per acre
amount of carbon removal, at 5 .0 mtCO2/acre in
the 2011-2016 timeframe
Figure 12 of Forest GHG Report Net
CO2 Removals by Ownership p Acre
2011-2016 CO2 Removal by Ownership per Acre
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Hypothetical Upper Limit for JeffCo
Using Data from Forest and Trees GHG
Inventory
• If that same USFS per acre carbon sequestration
rate was applied to the DNR, commercial/industrial,
small private/public, and county-owned areas
(455,651 acres) of the county,
• and all other areas were held constant at 2011-
2016 levels,
• that would result in a 76% increase in the carbon
sequestration per year for the county excluding
ONPW areas.
Hypothetical Upper Limit for JeffCo
Using Data from Forest and Trees GHG
Inventory
• Alternatively, if ^'54,000 acres of
commercial/industrial land were purchased and
switched to management resulting in sequestration
similar to USFS rate from report from 2011-2016,
that would increase carbon sequestration per year
to the 20% by 2030 goal
Opportunities to Increase
Carbon Sequestration
From Forest & Trees GHG Inventory Report, Suggested
Next Steps:
• Work with DNR to do trust land transfers or
reconveyance to County ownership (benefit depends
on ownership type)
• Support forest management on small public/private
lands ( 126,701 acres in county) through education,
policies and opportunities such as:
• Forest Carbon Works which offers carbon credit
payments for small landowners
• Continue to fund County forestry programs to include
carbon management
Other Opportunities from Report
Engage Washington Congressional
delegation and 24th Legislative District on
carbon policies, including carbon pricing.
Encourage and incentivize planting of trees
for long term establishment in un -forested
areas .
Consider expanding the tree ordinance to
encourage retaining standing trees when
practical .
Other Opportunities
Continue to guard against conversion of
forestland to nonforest
Look for opportunities for increasing
sequestration in agricultural
Look for opportunities for riparian and
tidal reforestation, as well as post-fire
replanting
Forest Management Co-Benefits
Stormwater management/mitigation
Enhanced water quality and conservation
Temperature mitigation
Public health benefits
Protects biodiversity, provides food and
habitat for wildlife
Increases employment from non-timber
forest products and tourism
Proposed Sector Based Emissions Goal
By 2030: Emissions 58. 7% below 2018 levels
By 2050: Emissions 95% below 2018 levels
Questions and
Discussion