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Carbon Sequestration Virtual Field Trip
47
Carbon Sequestration Virtual Field Trip
Soils and Land Use Planning Group 2
Welcome to this week's field trip!
What is Carbon Sequestration?
What is carbon sequestration?
What is Carbon Sequestration?
Carbon sequestration: a natural or artificial process by which carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere and held in solid or liquid form
- A function of the biogeochemical exchange between plants and the atmosphere
- Strongly influenced by key controlling processes such as land use, land-management activities, ecosystem disturbances and climate
What is soil carbon sequestration?
Check out this awesome
video -->
Road Map to this Section
Sequestration in forests
Part 1: Wildlands
1. Wildlands and carbon sequestration: a basic overview
2. Remediation efforts in wildlands: how and why are we maintaining these sinks?
Part 2: Forests of the Western US
1. Forests and carbon sequestration: how does it work?
2. Impact of forest fires: how are recent big blazes and prescribed fire affecting carbon sinks in the Western US?
3. Impact of deforestation: a case study exploring what's happened and how we can fix it
Wildlands and Carbon Sequestration
Wild Lands and Carbon Sequestration
- Public wildlands serve as carbon “sinks,” meaning that forests, grasslands, coastal ecosystems, and other landscapes absorb and store carbon through natural processes.
- Public wildlands in the continental United States absorb 259 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent every year
- However, nearly 4.5 times more carbon is being emitted from public lands than these places can absorb naturally
- Therefore, in recognition of this dilemma, efforts are under way to improve soil carbon and increase sequestration
Wildland remediation efforts: United States Forest Service
Remediation Efforts in Wildlands
The U.S. Forest Service is managing wildlands for soil carbon in various ways. Notable remediation efforts include biochar application and reforestation. The agency uses these management strategies as a way to help mitigate potential effects of climate change.
Biochar
Biochar for Soil Carbon
-Biochar improves soil fertility as
it is a great source of organic
matter
-it retains soil nutrients for long
periods of time
-it reduces need for chemical
fertilizers
*Check out this video for a
comprehensive review -->
Managing for Climate Change
Why the U.S. Forest Service is managing for climate change
- "Changes may occur through changes in the relationship between biomass production and decomposition, or a in response to shifts in vegetation communities that are driven by climate change" (1).
- "Vegetation growth and decomposition processes will respond to changes in temperature. Since both primary production and decomposition may increase with temperature, changes in soil carbon will likely depend on how different forests respond to factors other than temperature (e.g. precipitation) in different soil types" (1).
- Example: Changes in precipitation patterns are predicted to create exaggerated periods of both drought and extreme precipitation, leading to either increased erosion of stabilized mineral soil carbon, or decreased decomposition linked to low oxygen availability in wet soils.
*Link to article for further reading:
(1) https://www.fs.usda.gov/ccrc/topics/forest-soil-carbon
Reforestation
Reforestation
-"Reforestation programs have been integral to
the management of national forest resources
since the Agency’s inception. The Organic
Administration Act of 1897 explicitly provided for
the establishment of national forests to improve
and protect forests to secure favorable conditions
of water flows and to furnish a continuous supply
of timber" (1).
Continued federal research shows reforestation is
beneficial for soil carbon:
-"A team of researchers from the Northern Research Station
and the University of Michigan has creatively used more
than 15,000 previously collected soil measurements from
several large databases to quantify the soil carbon benefits
of reforestation and forecast its future. The study delivers
the first empirically based, published estimate of the total
amount of carbon currently accumulating in the topsoil of
U.S. forests undergoing reforestation—about 10 percent of
the entire U.S. forest carbon sink. The gradual soil carbon
increase during reforestation adds up: from 13 to 21 million
tons of carbon are added to reforesting U.S. soils annually
in a trend likely to continue for decades" (2).
*Links to articles for further reading: (1) https://www.fs.fed.us/restoration/reforestation/overview.shtml
(2) https://www.fs.fed.us/nrs/highlights/345 -AND- Link to Northern Research Station publication: https://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/pubs/55717
Forests and Carbon Sequestration
Why are PNW forests so important for carbon sequestration?
- Forests are incredibly productive, with large amounts of biomass both above and below ground
- Serve as a crucial carbon sink
- Forests in this region sequester 87 terragrams of carbon annually
- 40% of that carbon sequestration occurs in soils
- Check out this video for a more comprehensive overview!
Impact of Forest Fires
What happens to carbon sequestration during a wildfire?
In the short term: immediate release of greenhouse gases from combustion emissions
In the long term: combined effects of decomposing biomass and regenerating vegetation
Human activity and land use influence the ability of forests to uptake carbon
- One of the biggest debates in modern forest management considers the benefits and drawbacks of preventative fire treatments like prescribed burning
- In many parts of the this region the potential loss of carbon due to mitigation efforts is greater than that lost during wildfires
- Anthropogenic climate change has altered the severity and characteristics of fire season in the Western United States, leading to longer and more intense disturbances
Impact of Deforestation
Deforestation has important consequences for our emissions budget
- Deforestation is one of the largest carbon sources in the world
- Second only to the release of fossil fuels
- The impacts of deforestation extend beyond the removal of trees
- Loss of plant litter and canopy interception
- Loss of soil structure from root stability
- Erosion of unprotected soil
- The PNW records the highest percentage of area harvested and the highest mass harvested per unit area in the United States
Check out this video highlighting the value of reforestation!
Carbon sequestration in grasslands
Key Questions
- Why is carbon sequestration in grasslands important?
- How is carbon sequestered by grasslands?
- What land use factors can improve or limit soil carbon sequestration?
Sequestration in grasslands
Grass, grazing, carbon sequestration from permaculturist Richard Perkins
Watch this first!
More info
Graphic
More info and graphic source can be found here: https://bwsr.state.mn.us/carbon-sequestration-grasslands
Additional (optional) Reading Materials
More Resources
https://bwsr.state.mn.us/carbon-sequestration-grasslands
https://www.agric.wa.gov.au/measuring-and-assessing-soils/what-soil-organic-carbon
http://csanr.wsu.edu/soil-biology-and-soil-organic-matter/
Let's Explore Rangeland Carbon Sequestration!
Sequestration in agriculture
Don't forget to check out this fun activity!
Watch this video
The Soil Solution Focus On: Marin Carbon Project
This video presents a hopeful perspective on the possibility for rangeland soil to sequester carbon and have a positive influence on atmospheric CO2 levels.
Check out the articles below (if you feel inclined). The Ryals and Silver article was published as part of the effort covered in the video. The other was published by two of the same authors but compares the effects of various amendments on carbon emissions.
- Ryals, R., & Silver, W. L. (2013). Effects of organic matter amendments on net primary productivity and greenhouse gas emissions in annual grasslands. Ecological Applications, 23(1), 46-59. Access it here: https://www.marincarbonproject.org/file/2018-documents/2_Effects-of-organic-matter-amendments-on-net-primary-productivity-and-greenhouse-gas-emissions-in-a
- DeLonge, M. S., Ryals, R., & Silver, W. L. (2013). A lifecycle model to evaluate carbon sequestration potential and greenhouse gas dynamics of managed grasslands. Ecosystems, 16(6), 962-979 Access it here: https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10021-013-9660-5.pdf
Speed the video up 2x to mimic the effects of large amendments of coffee on humans.
Watch this video
Grazed and Confused? How much can grazing livestock help to mitigate climate change?
This video balances the optimism of the Marin Carbon Project as a panacea by looking at the potential for sequestration compared to emissions from livestock globally.
Speed up 2x for an extra challenge!
Optional Video & Readings
Cedar Grove Facility Tour
Tour of Cedar Grove's composting facility. This gives a local perspective on how the carbon-based waste we produce locally can be turned into nutrient rich soil amendment.
Farm emissions activity
COMET Farm Activity
COMET Farm is a tool produced by the USDA and NRCS in collaboration with Colorado State University. It uses location-specific soil and climate data along with user input to enable farmers to estimate carbon emissions and sequestration from their farms based on baseline data and future management scenarios.
Follow the video demo to complete an activity testing different land management strategies on carbon sequestration and carbon emissions.
Access COMET Farm here: http://comet-farm.com/
HOT TIPS!
- In case you want to try replicating what the Marin Carbon Project did: .5 inch of compost over an acre is equivalent to about 43 tons/acre! That's a lotta S#!%
- Speed the video up 2x to hear Justin speak extra fast!
Carbon sequestration, both present and future
Looking to the future: Impacts of climate change
- Today, just 3% of North America’s tallgrass prairie remains, therefore a massive amount of soil carbon has been lost to the atmosphere
- The world’s cultivated soils have lost between 50% to 70% of their original carbon stock.
- More carbon resides in soil than in the atmosphere and all plant life combined.
This section uses long term case studies to highlight some of the key challenges associated with carbon sequestration in the future: Check it out!
Soil Warming Experiments in the Harvard Forest
Soil Warming Experiment
Background
26 YEAR SOIL WARMING EXPERIMENT
- Results in four-phase pattern of organic matter decay
- Carbon dioxide flux to the atmosphere
- Substantial soil carbon loss alternating with phases of no detectable loss
- Projecting long-term, self-reinforcing carbon feedback from mid-latitude forests to the climate system as the world warms
By the numbers
How are carbon losses changing over time?
FIG. 2 FOUR-YEAR ROLLING MEAN CUMULATIVE MODELED SOIL CARBON LOSSES FROM THE FULL SOIL PROFILE OVER 26 YEARS OF SOIL WARMING IN THE HEATED PLOTS RELATIVE TO THE CONTROL PLOTS
Key Takeaways
What can we learn from this experiment?
A GLOBAL AGGREGATE SOIL CARBON LOSS FROM THE UPPER 1 M OF SOIL OVER THE 21ST CENTURY OF APPROX. 190 PG CARBON
What about timber harvesting?
Timber Harvest
Background
Results
Core Ideas
- Nine forest stands in the Pacific Northwest were selected to detect at least a 5% change in mineral soil carbon
- Change in mineral soil carbon content following harvest was negligible (+2% ns)
- There was an increase of 184% in forest floor carbon resulting from harvest residue inputs
- Conventional methods of timber harvesting do not cause substantial short-term loss in mineral soil carbon
Future Work
Soil is not just a medium for plant growth: it's a key to addressing climate change
Year-round crops
Agroforestry
Regenerative agricultural practices
Increasing Soil Carbon
Restore degraded and eroded land
Avoid deforestation
Avoid farming of peatland
Increase soil carbon in all ecosystems
Restoring Degraded Soils
Regenerate Australia
Focus to build and stabilize carbon
Potential to store in soils an additional 1 billion to 3 billion tons of carbon annually, equivalent to roughly 3.5 billion to 11 billion tons of C02 emissions
Closing Thoughts and More Resources
Thank you for watching!
Resources
Forests:
- https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1890/08-0501.1?casa_token=OwFaGUpeoJcAAAAA%3Aa5RN95YFYcYKaSbB6UelHhKdGiNMi1bW8niZyRgiMKAzAkzNDKUKPVb1ROh2ciK0tc4N0TcRUD_7McQ
- https://jacksonlab.stanford.edu/sites/g/files/sbiybj15141/f/appl002.pdf
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378112712004513
- http://groundwater.sdsu.edu/usgs_pp_1797.pdf
- https://www.fs.usda.gov/ccrc/topics/forest-soil-carbon
- https://www.fs.fed.us/nrs/highlights/345
- https://bwsr.state.mn.us/carbon-sequestration-forests
- https://www.fs.fed.us/research/highlights/highlights_display.php?in_high_id=385
- https://www.oeaw.ac.at/forebiom/book/6%20D_Page-Dumroese.pdf
Agriculture:
- https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1890/12-0620.1?casa_token=5j4jwIhTfCcAAAAA%3APJev2c3EmBSMh2glQkd-FQSyglMyqbEbUOu83umLaRdEY2ysuSRU0mbjbSnIy9vfdOv8i6qlbThCCu4
- https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10021-013-9660-5
Grasslands:
- https://bwsr.state.mn.us/carbon-sequestration-grasslands
- https://www.agric.wa.gov.au/measuring-and-assessing-soils/what-soil-organic-carbon
- http://csanr.wsu.edu/soil-biology-and-soil-organic-matter/
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pC3v1S2nnb4
Climate Change:
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28983050/
- https://e360.yale.edu/features/soil_as_carbon_storehouse_new_weapon_in_climate_fight
- https://acsess.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.2136/sssaj2018.09.0354