Carbon Sequestration on Appalachian Mountain Club Forest Lands – History, Opportunities and Future Direction Dr. David Publicover Senior Staff Scientist Appalachian Mountain Club Gorham, NH Sustainable Woodstock Carbon Work-Study Discussion Series August 18, 2018

Background on forest carbon offsets AMC’s Maine Woods Initiative AMC involvement in carbon offset markets Current carbon offset projects Current research activities

Carbon offset concepts What is an “offset”? Voluntary and regulatory markets Registries and protocols CAR (Climate Action Reserve) ARB (CA Air Resources Board) Permanent, additional, verifiable MT CO2e

Forest projects can accrue credits in two ways: Having initial carbon stocking above the calculated project-specific baseline, which represents average carbon stocking within the ecological subsection (“common practice”) (“initial stocking credits”). Increasing project carbon stocks over time (“growth credits”). Credits may include long-term carbon storage in harvested wood products – projects may include managed lands as well as reserves.

Our story begins in 2003… AMC begins tracking organizational carbon footprint, with goal of reducing it 80% below 2004-05 baseline by 2050. AMC acquires first forest land as part of Maine Woods Initiative.

AMC’s Maine Woods Initiative is an innovative approach to conservation that combines outdoor recreation, resource protection, responsible forestry, and community partnerships. 2003 – Acquired Little Lyford Pond Camps and Katahdin Iron Works property (37,000 acres). 2004 – First timber harvest. 2007 – Forest Legacy easement establishes KIW ecological reserve. 2009 – Acquired Roach Ponds property (28,000 acres). 2010 – Initiated KIWER carbon offset project. 2014 – Completed KIWER carbon offset project (voluntary market). 2015 – Forest Stewardship Council certified. 2015 – Acquired Baker Mountain properties (4,000 acres). 2016 – Acquired Silver Lake property (4,000 acres); carbon offset project in progress (ARB market). Current ownership is 73,892 acres encumbered by six conservation easements held by three different easement holders.

MWI forest management objectives: Manage the property with a long-term focus on both ecological and economic sustainability. Manage the property so as to increase its resilience and adaptability in the face of anticipated climate change Designate a significant portion of the property as ecological reserve, which will be managed to restore and maintain natural ecological communities and processes. Designate other no-harvest areas at a variety of scales to protect ecological or aesthetic values that could be adversely affected by timber harvesting. Allow natural successional processes to restore the ecological reserve and other no-harvest areas to a late-successional condition. Provide a high level of protection to wetlands and riparian areas. Identify and protect occurrences of rare, unusual or sensitive natural communities and plant species. Identify and manage as appropriate important wildlife habitats. Protect the aesthetic quality of important scenic vistas and areas adjacent to recreational trails and facilities. Promote the long-term development of mature, multi-aged forest stands in areas managed for timber production. Increase average stocking of managed stands over the long term. Increase the component of softwood species (particularly red spruce and white pine) in areas with suitable soils. Retain and restore late-successional structures (large diameter live trees and standing and down woody debris) within harvested stands. Promote the growth of high-value species and forest products (sawlogs and veneer). Provide income from sale of timber products for payment of ownership and management costs and to support the development of recreational infrastructure and programmatic activities.

Katahdin Iron Works Ecological Reserve carbon project (9,037 acres) ~2005 – back-of-the-envelope calculation of KIW carbon sequestration. October 2009 – CAR opens up forest protocol to projects nationwide. Late 2009 – AMC contacted by commercial carbon project development companies. April 2010 – KIWER project submitted for listing. February 2011 – Project accepted for listing. Summer-fall 2011 – Project inventory. June 2012 – Field verification. January 2014 – Project completed; initial credits (2007-2012) released. Winter-spring 2018 – Desk verification for 2013- 2017 credits. Late 2018 – 6-year reverification. 2023 – Next inventory. 2024 – Next field verification.

Modeling gives average increase of about 1 Modeling gives average increase of about 1.7 MT CO2e/acre/year between 2011 and 2023 inventories. Following deductions (confidence interval, leakage, buffer pool contribution) we may accrue about 0.7 credits/acre/year. At $5/credit this represents a potential income of $3.50/acre/year.

An unexpected complication… Katahdin Iron Works Conservation Easement Section VI.B.6: All rights to develop or use the Protected Property that are prohibited by or inconsistent with this Conservation Easement are extinguished, and cannot be used to transfer development rights to other land, or to permit increased development or natural resource use or removal on other land, or to achieve other regulatory mitigation credits for fiber, discharge of pollutants, or other similar accommodation on land not subject to this Conservation Easement. Easement language is critical!

Current investigations: Carbon project viability analyses for MWI managed lands and Cardigan Reservation (NH) . Developing tools for evaluating tradeoffs between timber harvest and carbon credits at various levels of harvesting and carbon/timber pricing scenarios. Selling AMC carbon offset credits to guests to offset the footprint of their travel to our facilities. Carbon project development considered as an investment (i.e. no immediate payoff). Application of AMC forest carbon sequestration to organizational carbon footprint reduction goal?

Cardigan Reservation carbon project viability assessment: 1200-acre property in western New Hampshire. ~1100 acre potential project area. Predominantly northern hardwoods with some softwood. Mid-successional; some areas were pasture until 1930s; limited harvesting in 1960s. 31-plot inventory conducted fall 2016. Current stocking: Basal area: 136 ft2/acre (KIWER – 99) Volume: 39 cords/acre (KIWER – 17) Carbon: 133 MT CO2/acre (KIW – 70) Project results in positive carbon credits (both initial and near-term annual growth). Growth credits are about 0.7/credits/acre/year – the same as KIWER. However, small size results in a project that is not economically viable - at a credit price of <$13/ton it would take more than 25 years for the project to break even. Results are consistent with analysis of Kerchner and Keeton (2015).