Forests for Climate
A blueprint for carbon-rich, resilient landscapes
Our Vision
California’s forests are managed to ensure restoration over time of a more carbon-rich and resilient landscape that supports the state’s carbon, water, adaptation, and sustainability goals. A significant, coordinated, focused, and strategic investment will secure and restore California’s forests. These investments should:
- Increase net and resilient carbon stores towards meeting the 2030 and 2050 targets;
- Secure carbon for the long-term, managing forests within naturally functioning landscapes;
- Have multiple co-benefits for water, wildlife, rural communities, renewable energy, and public safety.
This will set our landscapes on a trajectory for long-term, resilient carbon sequestration, while also improving watershed function, wildlife and human adaptation, and supporting rural economies. A collaborative inter-agency framework to reach across institutional silos will ensure more cohesive, strategic, and cost-effective implementation to restore resilient carbon-rich landscapes.
Objectives and Criteria
To accomplish this, investments should include and be ranked by these consistent key principles:
- Nest Short-term Actions Within Durable Carbon Gains. To help fight climate change now, through 2050 and beyond, investments should have both near-term and lasting, long-term results. The top priority should go to investments with permanent benefits, with weighted ranking for longer-term project assurances. Near-term investments include efforts to improve forest health, structure, growth, and function, including but not limited to the thinning of unnaturally dense forests. These investments are strongest when coupled with long-term commitments–such as working forest conservation easements–that result in complex, resilient forests which optimize carbon stores and adaptation benefits.
- Maximize Co-benefits. Forest carbon stores are more resilient and adaptive to climate change where natural forest conditions and functions are incorporated. Such forests also provide a wide range of additional benefits that are already recognized in the state adopted plans and goals. Investments should be prioritized by the degree to which they also meet state goals for:
a. Restoring watershed health and function
b. Supporting biodiversity and wildlife adaptation to climate change
c. Revitalizing and sustaining rural economies
d. Catalyzing clean, renewable energy based on forest restoration
e. Improving public safety as part of holistic forest management
- Coordinated State Investments Across the Landscape. Investments from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund can have greater impact and leverage other state investments if these are coordinated. Priority should be given to those investments which build on existing work, such as the Adaptation Plan, California Water Action Plan, and State Wildlife Action Plan, to advance the goals outlined in the second criteria.
Implementation Plan
Step 1: Form an Executive Interagency Team
A nimble interdisciplinary and interagency executive team is needed to ensure siloed investment approaches are overcome. This team, based in Sacramento, will be established to identify priority opportunities, actions, and investments in forested watersheds around the state. While regional and expert staff can support this team with site-specific information, the governing body should consist of key representatives from:
Agencies: California Environmental Protection Agency, California Natural Resources Agency, Office of the Governor, California Department of Food and Agriculture, and the State Water Resources Control Board.
Departments: The Governor’s Office of Planning & Research, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (aka CAL FIRE), California Department of Parks and Recreation, and California Department of Water Resources.
Step 2: Develop Regional Prioritization
Applying the criteria laid out above for prioritization, a regional-scale approach can identify threats and opportunities in the landscape. These regional assessments will build on existing state-sanctioned resources such as CAPPs, State Wildlife Action Plan, Cal Trans Essential Linkages report, Forest Climate Action Team analysis, and others.
Step 3: Implement Actions
Where existing programs are appropriate, implementing carbon investments through these can be more cost-efficient and effective. For instance, Working Forest Conservation Easements or other real estate transactions can be obtained from the Wildlife Conservation Board, forest restoration grants via California Forest Improvement Program, and mountain meadow restoration activities via California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s grant program.
Conclusion
Investing cap and trade auction revenues in forest conservation and restoration strategically at the landscape level can significantly increase carbon sequestration in resilient forests. Using an integrated framework and coordinated approach in concert with related state priorities and plans, these investments will also improve California’s readiness for climate change, improve water security, help achieve renewable energy goals and build more stable rural economies.
Photography: Title image by Miguel Vieira.