Oregon leaders approve ‘precedent setting’ plan to put state forest in a carbon market
The decision, which officials said would fight climate change, makes Oregon the second state after Michigan to dedicate an entire state forest to storing harmful emissions while selling carbon credits for revenue.
Oregon’s leaders decided for the first time to dedicate an entire state forest to storing harmful greenhouse gases to combat climate change while generating revenue from selling carbon credits.
The fate of the Elliott State Forest near Coos Bay has been the subject of intense negotiation for years, but on Tuesday morning the three members of the State Land Board – Gov. Tina Kotek, Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade and state Treasurer Tobias Read – voted unanimously to support a proposed forest management plan for the Elliott’s future that prioritizes research, protecting animal habitat, increasing forest carbon storage to combat climate change and produce income from the sale of carbon credits. Logging would still be allowed in parts of the forest, but would be significantly reduced from previous decades.
The decision makes Oregon the second state nationwide to enroll an entire state forest in a plan focused on storing harmful emissions in exchange for carbon credits, after Michigan.
In Oregon, the forest management plan includes registering all 83,000 acres of the Elliott into the voluntary carbon crediting market to generate millions of dollars for th( article continues at Washington State Standard )