Climate bill a win for Rockies forests, economy

    The forests of the northern Rockies are both a key reason we live and recreate here and a significant driver of Montana’s economy. Our forests are havens for mighty elk, secretive grizzly and black bears, and they provide the watershed support for silvery trout rising to a cast fly. They are also a source of timber for domestic use and export and associated jobs for our rural economies, especially for companies quick-footed enough to adapt to changing market conditions. Less known is the fact that our forests also serve an important role in helping mitigate the effects of climate change. 

   Forest management and other land-use activities have historically been excluded from major global warming agreements such as the international Kyoto protocol. However, the U.S. Senate has taken a significant step in recognizing forests as part of the Climate Security Act, a bill that will be taken up by the full Senate for votes scheduled this week on the Senate floor. The bill is co-sponsored by Republican John Warner and Independent Joe Lieberman. Montana’s Sen. Max Baucus has been an important supporter and key architect in improving the bill in committee, while Sen. Jon Tester has yet to take a position.  

   There are many reasons to support this bill. First, it would cap runaway global warming pollution through an “economywide” approach, so that no one sector of the economy is unduly penalized. Second, the bill provides flexible approaches for meeting strong emissions targets through incentives for early action, credit banking and a limited use of offsets. And third, the bill recognizes the role of working farms and forestlands to help meet the bill’s overall goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by roughly 2 percent per year by 2050. The importance of forests in this effort was also recognized by Gov. Brian Schweitzer’s climate change task force. 

   The conversion and loss of forests make up more than a fifth of total global greenhouse gas emissions. That’s a hefty wedge, especially when we know that forests can play a major role in helping accumulate and store carbon; a process known as sequestration. Forests can store as much as 100-150 tons per acre and add up to 1-2 tons per acre per year. Well managed forests can sequester carbon in another important way — in two-by-fours and other forest products. 

   Yet, U.S. forests are under assault on many fronts, including climate-related increases in pest outbreaks, fire frequency and fire extent, losses from conversions to other uses including development and agriculture, inadequate funding for forest management efforts, competition from foreign sources of timber which reduces political support for forest management. All of these factors threaten the ability of our forests to continue to play their historical role as warehouses for carbon. 

   A growing body of research, including the latest Stern Report issued by the London School of Economics, notes that maintaining significant areas of healthy forests is one of the best, and in some places among the cheapest option available to address problems created by excessive greenhouse gas emissions. Unquestionably we have to put a firm cap on fossil fuel emissions from power plants and other major industries. But incentives to encourage forest management and conservation should be part of the menu of solutions. 

   The Climate Security Act helps forests in three ways. First, it allows forests to be eligible to assist “large emitters” such as coal-fed power plants to meet their reduction targets by offsetting a small portion of their emissions through qualified forest projects. Second, the bill dedicates a small percentage of pollution credits — those which can be traded in the market under the cap — to qualified forestry activities. Third, the bill provides substantial new funding from the sale of credits to natural resource agencies, and to specific programs such as the successful Forest Legacy program. Forest Legacy has worked to help willing landowners conserve thousands of acres of working forestlands. 

   Like a runaway train at the top of a hill, the effects of global warming are gathering speed. The longer we wait the more difficult and expensive it becomes to prevent derailment. It is especially important that we get started now since it will take time to slow that train, and we will undoubtedly improve our policies as we gain knowledge and market experience.  

   Sens. Baucus and Tester are on the right side of Montana’s future by supporting the Climate Security Act. Let them know you appreciate their position before this vital legislation is anticipated to hit the Senate floor soon.

Dale Bosworth retired as Chief of the U.S. Forest Service in 2007. Tom France is the Regional Director of the National Wildlife Federation’s Northern Rockies office in Missoula.