Lonni Green
Ian Hanna of Northwest Natural Resource Group
Ian Hanna of Northwest Natural Resource Group gave a presentation at the school on June 2, 2009. NNRG is a private nonprofit company that works with WA and OR forest owners to "make ecological forestry a paying proposition." Ian was invited by Christine B, and is working with Carson S. to develop ideas.
Their startup fee is $230, yearly fee $50. For that, they work with you to map the assets in your forest and help you get FSC certification, which is kind of like organic certification but for forests. Ideally, as a community, we would come up with an island-wide forest management plan that individual landowners could opt into. NNRG would help make a database so that thinning, harvest, sales, and other schedules could be optimized. They would help subscribers apply for money available to people who put into place certain specific conservation measures. They would help with marketing for locally run value-added businesses such as mills, kilns, and flooring, trim, or furniture manufacture. They hold about two workshops a month, which are available to subscribers. The more people in an area sign up, the more valuable the database would be.
Ian said that 15% of world timber harvest is illegal, and 25% of net carbon emission is from deforestation. After oceans, forests hold the most CO2. To maximize carbon sequestering, first, don't convert forest land to other uses. In Washington, for example, in the last 30 years, 2 million of its 19 million forested acres have been converted. Second, allow mature forests to grow. Older trees hold a lot of cubic feet of carbon. In the short term, you can do more by allowing old forests to grow than by reforesting, although obviously, in the long term you want both.
Their startup fee is $230, yearly fee $50. For that, they work with you to map the assets in your forest and help you get FSC certification, which is kind of like organic certification but for forests. Ideally, as a community, we would come up with an island-wide forest management plan that individual landowners could opt into. NNRG would help make a database so that thinning, harvest, sales, and other schedules could be optimized. They would help subscribers apply for money available to people who put into place certain specific conservation measures. They would help with marketing for locally run value-added businesses such as mills, kilns, and flooring, trim, or furniture manufacture. They hold about two workshops a month, which are available to subscribers. The more people in an area sign up, the more valuable the database would be.
Ian said that 15% of world timber harvest is illegal, and 25% of net carbon emission is from deforestation. After oceans, forests hold the most CO2. To maximize carbon sequestering, first, don't convert forest land to other uses. In Washington, for example, in the last 30 years, 2 million of its 19 million forested acres have been converted. Second, allow mature forests to grow. Older trees hold a lot of cubic feet of carbon. In the short term, you can do more by allowing old forests to grow than by reforesting, although obviously, in the long term you want both.
Ian talked at length about selling carbon credits. You are legally limited in what you can do to your forest, if it has riparian areas, unstable slopes, or other environmentally sensitive spots. The difference between what you are required to have and what you actually have is your "additionality," which you can sell as carbon exchanges. Ideally, one metric ton of sequestered carbon would command $20, but it doesn't, yet. For a 100 year contract, you could get about $2 - 4,000 per acre to maintain your forest. You would agree not to harvest below a certain threshhold.
There is at least one other way you can make money simply by growing your trees. The Conservation Stewardship Program pays landowners a small sum per acre if they meet the criteria.
In both cases, the NNRG would handle the paperwork, if you subscribed.
Ian said that here, he sees trees in the "stem exclusion phase." That means they're growing close together and competing viciously. Leaving land alone is a type of forest management that doesn't optimize biodiversity or tree growth. A better plan would be to thin those trees.
He mentioned a few ways to add value to local trees. Local milling would be good. A kiln could be built to dry lumber locally, and there's grant money available to make it happen. Our Doug-fir dries rock-hard and isn't suitable for 2x4's. For trim or flooring, however, it might get a premium price if it had some kind of logo or San Juan County brand. Marketing lumber for log homes is not optimal, since beetle-killed logs are a dime a dozen nowadays. Utility poles might make more sense, though they would have to be pulled out of the forest somehow.
After his talk, several landowners signed up to have him do a field audit of their land. Talk to Carson or Ian for more information. NNRG contact information is (360) 379-9421 [email protected]