Several efforts are now underway promoting rangelands as another landscape that can capture and store carbon, one of the key drivers of climate change. Carbon credit markets, such as California’s Cap-and-Trade Program, seek to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) in the atmosphere by avoiding the release of additional carbon and/or increasing the amount of carbon stored in vegetation and soils. These developing projects seek to identify financial incentives for ranchers and land managers to implement specific land management practices or permanently conserve rangeland resources using conservation easements, and create another revenue source from the sale of carbon credits.
The Rangeland Trust has been asked to participate in three of these projects so we wanted to highlight key aspects of each. The following table offers an overview and contact information for those who want to learn more. Fact sheets for the projects can be found on the Rangeland Trust website at rangelandtrust.org. In the coming months, Rangeland Trust staff will be reaching out to landowners with easement-protected properties and those on our waiting list to solicit participation in one or all of these projects.
