Oregon’s budget has necessitated cuts to a lot of programs – including some in forestry and the Oregon Department of Forestry’s flagship publication, “Forests for Oregon” – but the magazine-turned-newsletter is still available online, and it’s free.
In print since 1930, “Forests for Oregon” was known as “The Forest Log” in its early years. It may be one of the state’s longest continuously printed publications. In more prosperous times, it was published 6 times/year, but over the years budget cuts have forced reductions to both its frequently and distribution.
Today, “Forests for Oregon” places its focus on forestry topics of interest to both family forestland owners (there are an estimated 65,000 family forestland owners in Oregon), and the general public.
Published quarterly, the short, pithy, full color 4-page publication addresses a wide range of forestry-related topics, including:
• wildfire prevention and suppression
• wildland/urban interface
• reforestation
• fish and wildlife habitat restoration
• tax information and tax incentives
• forest health
• urban forestry topics including tree care
• a Featured Tree column geared for urbanites
• insects and disease
• workshops and special events
• legislative issues
• updates from the state forester.
“Forests for Oregon” is a great information tool for small woodland owners,” says Peter Daugherty, chief of ODF’s Private Forests Division. “It has evolved into a publication that offers tips to family forestland owners on a variety of topics – from reforestation to fire prevention – they may find informative and helpful.”
“Forests for Oregon” is free and available to subscribers online. Those who would like to receive the publication by mail may request so by calling 503-945-7421, or by sending an e-mail to forestsfororegon@odf.state.or.us. First priority for print copies will be given to family forestland owners, Oregon libraries and those without internet access.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Monday, December 19, 2011
Stream project helps fish and serves as dry run for ecosystem credits market
Riddle: what helps fish, improves air or water quality, provides new capital for public services and puts Oregonians to work? An Oregon state agency may have found an answer.
The Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) recently concluded a pilot project to test the feasibility of having state-managed lands participate in the rapidly emerging ecosystem services credit trading market. This type of trading market compensates landowners through the "pricing" of natural assets (the benefits that people get from nature) as a credit that can be bought, sold, or otherwise paid for. For example, a land owner or developer could purchase credits to mitigate environmental effects of a particular activity.
During summer 2010, ODF partnered with the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife and the Tualatin River Watershed Council to place large wood into a one-mile reach of upper Gales Creek in Washington County. Thanks to an Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB) grant, project partners were able to place approximately 100 logs within the stream channel and floodplain, as a part of planned thinning and timber sale activities on the ODF-managed land.
Project partners were able to test the ecosystem services potential of restoring the stream by working with the Willamette Partnership to participate in their “Counting on the Environment” (COTE) initiative.
Willamette Partnership is a broad coalition of stakeholders committed to restoring the health of the ecologically, socially, and economically complex landscapes of the Northwest, in part by building the tools and infrastructure to help purchase and sell ecosystem service credits using market-based approaches. So far, the Willamette Partnership has developed model agreements with federal, state, and local agencies on ecosystem markets, developed tools for landowners to quantify the water and habitat benefits of restoration and stewardship, and facilitated improvements to wetlands, streams, and prairies across Oregon.
Over a two-year span, Willamette Partnership developed protocols to evaluate ecosystem enhancement projects and determine the appropriate ecosystem service credits in four areas:
-- Salmon Habitat
-- Wetland Habitat
-- Water Quality (Temperature & Nutrients)
-- Upland Prairie Habitat
In July, 2010, the Gales Creek Wood Placement Project was accepted as a Counting on the Environment pilot project for salmon habitat enhancement and water quality to calibrate and test these protocols.
The pilot created two benefits – improved stream habitat for fish and some good lessons on how emerging ecosystem markets can help generate revenue for conserving forests.
The project generated more than 4,000 linear feet of high-functioning stream, providing shade that kept the stream from heating up (measured at 1.9 million kilocalories per day of blocked solar energy). These credits were verified by the Willamette Partnership, and retirement certificates for the credits were issued by MarkIt Environmental Registry in August 2011.
Since the project was funded in part with an OWEB grant, and under Oregon law public agencies are not currently authorized to deal in ecosystem service credits, the project was carried through the full ecosystem credit estimation, verification, and registration cycle without the credits being purchased. Had the credits been traded at current prices for salmon and temperature credits, they might have generated about $1.4 million in revenue for project partners. While no funds changed hands for the ecosystem credits in this test, ODF will continue to explore the potential for stream enhancement credits to generate revenue.
Stream-restoration ecosystem credit projects yield a benefit to the environment and provide a potential new source of revenue for public resource management agencies such as ODF. But there’s a third benefit to Oregon.
They create jobs.
A study by the Ecosystem Workforce Program at the University of Oregon in 2009 found that forest and watershed restoration projects have considerable economic impact and job growth potential. The study determined that for every million dollars invested in restoration credit projects, twenty jobs and over $2.3 million in total economic activity were returned for river and road restoration. While these project jobs may be short-term in nature, ongoing demand for such restoration work could result in a consistent demand for Oregon workers involved in a “restoration economy.”
The Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) recently concluded a pilot project to test the feasibility of having state-managed lands participate in the rapidly emerging ecosystem services credit trading market. This type of trading market compensates landowners through the "pricing" of natural assets (the benefits that people get from nature) as a credit that can be bought, sold, or otherwise paid for. For example, a land owner or developer could purchase credits to mitigate environmental effects of a particular activity.
During summer 2010, ODF partnered with the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife and the Tualatin River Watershed Council to place large wood into a one-mile reach of upper Gales Creek in Washington County. Thanks to an Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB) grant, project partners were able to place approximately 100 logs within the stream channel and floodplain, as a part of planned thinning and timber sale activities on the ODF-managed land.
Project partners were able to test the ecosystem services potential of restoring the stream by working with the Willamette Partnership to participate in their “Counting on the Environment” (COTE) initiative.
Willamette Partnership is a broad coalition of stakeholders committed to restoring the health of the ecologically, socially, and economically complex landscapes of the Northwest, in part by building the tools and infrastructure to help purchase and sell ecosystem service credits using market-based approaches. So far, the Willamette Partnership has developed model agreements with federal, state, and local agencies on ecosystem markets, developed tools for landowners to quantify the water and habitat benefits of restoration and stewardship, and facilitated improvements to wetlands, streams, and prairies across Oregon.
Over a two-year span, Willamette Partnership developed protocols to evaluate ecosystem enhancement projects and determine the appropriate ecosystem service credits in four areas:
-- Salmon Habitat
-- Wetland Habitat
-- Water Quality (Temperature & Nutrients)
-- Upland Prairie Habitat
In July, 2010, the Gales Creek Wood Placement Project was accepted as a Counting on the Environment pilot project for salmon habitat enhancement and water quality to calibrate and test these protocols.
The pilot created two benefits – improved stream habitat for fish and some good lessons on how emerging ecosystem markets can help generate revenue for conserving forests.
The project generated more than 4,000 linear feet of high-functioning stream, providing shade that kept the stream from heating up (measured at 1.9 million kilocalories per day of blocked solar energy). These credits were verified by the Willamette Partnership, and retirement certificates for the credits were issued by MarkIt Environmental Registry in August 2011.
Since the project was funded in part with an OWEB grant, and under Oregon law public agencies are not currently authorized to deal in ecosystem service credits, the project was carried through the full ecosystem credit estimation, verification, and registration cycle without the credits being purchased. Had the credits been traded at current prices for salmon and temperature credits, they might have generated about $1.4 million in revenue for project partners. While no funds changed hands for the ecosystem credits in this test, ODF will continue to explore the potential for stream enhancement credits to generate revenue.
Stream-restoration ecosystem credit projects yield a benefit to the environment and provide a potential new source of revenue for public resource management agencies such as ODF. But there’s a third benefit to Oregon.
They create jobs.
A study by the Ecosystem Workforce Program at the University of Oregon in 2009 found that forest and watershed restoration projects have considerable economic impact and job growth potential. The study determined that for every million dollars invested in restoration credit projects, twenty jobs and over $2.3 million in total economic activity were returned for river and road restoration. While these project jobs may be short-term in nature, ongoing demand for such restoration work could result in a consistent demand for Oregon workers involved in a “restoration economy.”
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