Ghana is beginning to log drowned forests from Lake Volta as a source of high-value tropical logs. Ebony, teak, mahogany and nearly 100 other species have been found on the lake bottom, where they have stood since the construction in 1964 of the Akosombo hydroelectric dam. The venture is expected to earn $100 million per year for many years, and create 1400 jobs.

A Canadian management company, Clark Sustainable Resource Developments, has a contract to log part of Lake Volta, and is taking a sustainable development approach which will create jobs and build infrastructure in Ghana.

Underwater logging is not new, with operations in the US, Canada, Brazil, Malaysia, Cameroon and Ivory Coast, among others.   When the Adirondack Mountains of New York were first logged, hemlocks were felled into lakes and stripped of their bark, used to tan leather. The logs were allowed to sink because they had little value. In the 1960’s, long after logging in the Adirondack Park had stopped, enterprising loggers grappled the now-valuable hemlock logs from the lake bottom. In Malaysia, several large underwater logging operations have removed timber from hydroelectric project lakes. In Canada, the Cheslatta Carrier Nation has been logging Nechako Reservoir of its vast stands of pine, spruce, fir, cedar and hemlock. The value of the forest has been estimated at $2 billion.  Collectively, the worlds drowned forests may be worth $40 billion.

Trees drowned after dam development often remain standing. When cut, they can shoot up to the surface if they are still buoyant. Trees underwater do not decay, because the fungi that decompose wood require oxygen. 

Picture: Tree standing in Lake Volta. Photo courtesy of Clark Sustainable Resource Developments.

Ghana’s ‘miracle’: Logging underwater forests for exotic timber – Yahoo! News UK

Old growth temperate forests are an important global carbon sink, soaking up CO₂ at much higher rates than previously thought.The dogma for many decades has been that once forests become mature, they have such a large volume of non-green respiring (and CO₂ releasing) tissue that they do not accumulate carbon.As a result, old growth forests have been left out of discussions of carbon storage and sequestration.

Sebastiaan Luyssaert of the University of Antwerp, Belgium and his colleagues have shown that in forests from 15 to 800 years old, the net carbon balance, including soils, is positive.  That means that forests accumulate carbon regardless of age. 

Luyssaert found that boreal and temperate forests of the northern hemisphere sequester about 1.3 gigatonnes of carbon per year.  Disturbance of these forests would probably result in net release of CO₂.

This research, if borne out by further studies, should provide strong motivation for forests of all ages to be included in carbon sequestration schemes. That means that owners of forests should be able to get income through the sale of carbon credits, and these owners will have an incentive for forest protection and conservation.

Links:
Lysseart et al in Nature (sub. required)

Mongabay article on old growth

A private company, GreenTrees, is creating long-term contracts with landowners in the Lower Mississippi River Alluvial Valley, including Western Kentucky, to plant forests of cottonwood and other hardwoods. The purpose of the project is to create value through a combination of biomass production for industry and carbon sequestration opportunities. Carbon sequestration will create income streams through trading in carbon cap and trade markets.

In exchange for leasing the land to GreenTrees, landowners receive up-front payments, timber harvest income, recreational income, carbon-based income, and appreciating property values, as well as federal and state conservation incentives and payments.  Landowners can engage in these kinds of activities on their own, but they can’t tap into the up-front income offered by GreenTrees.

The Lower Mississippi River Alluvial Valley was a richly forested region until the 20th century, when bottom-land farming of soybeans cleared vast areas of land.  These lands are in the long run more valuable for carbon storage and watershed protection than crop production.

Stay tuned for more information on this interesting development.

Green-Trees.com

Cross posted at Sustainable Kentucky and Tree Trends.

I’m giving a keynote speech at the Kentucky Governor’s Conference on the Environment.  Notes in preparation for the talk, which will include some discussion of forests and soils for carbon sequestration are at Sustainable Kentucky.

Spain wil plant 45 million trees from 2009-2012 to slow desertification and combat climate change. The project will cost $127 million and employ nearly 3,000 people. Nearly 1/3 of Spain is in prolonged severe drought and at risk of desertification due to climate change. Spain is also establishing a new research center to fight desertification and climate change.

Spain to plant 45 million trees before 2012 – International Herald Tribune

Spain to set up climate change research institute – Ynetnews

Research by Peter Curtis (Ohio State University) and colleagues shows that northern Michigan forests can store an average of 0.65 tons C per acre per year. This rate of storage is higher than earlier estimates such as those used to develop the Kyoto Protocol, and is consistent with other recent studies that show that temperate forests are more efficient carbon sinks than previously thought.

The use of forests as purchasable carbon offsets will become more attractive as we learn more about how much carbon forests can store. However, there is so much variation in the factors that influence carbon storage in forests that prolonged, broad research like that discussed in this article will be needed at many more locations.

Links:

Press release: Scientists Point To Forests For Carbon Storage Solutions

Research Paper:

Christopher M. Gough, Christoph S. Vogel, Hans Peter Schmid, and Peter S. Curtis. Controls on Annual Forest Carbon Storage: Lessons from the Past and Predictions for the Future. 2008. Bioscience 58(7): 609-622.

Cross posted at Sustainable Kentucky/Green Kentucky