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About The Pacific Forest Trust California Main Office |
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Release March 12, 2007 Governor Schwarzenegger to Reduce "California is a leader in the fight against global warming. I look forward to working with organizations like the Pacific Forest Trust because it is important that we continue to focus on innovative ways to reduce our society's carbon footprint," says Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Owned by the Fred M. van Eck Forest Foundation, the 2,200-acre Van Eck Forest in Humboldt County is a working redwood forest conserved and managed by the Pacific Forest Trust (PFT) to increase carbon stores, restore biodiversity and old growth qualities, and provide habitat for endangered species. Therefore, in addition to helping cool the climate, the Van Eck Forest Project helps protect wildlife habitat, safeguard clean water and sustain rural communities and jobs for the benefit of all Californians. Forests like Van Eck provide climate benefits by absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere and storing it as carbon in trees for hundreds of years. California’s coastal redwood forests– which grow the fastest, largest and for the longest period of time – are especially vital as they are among the most productive forest carbon “sinks” in the world. Because older forests store more CO2 in their trees than do younger forests, managing the Van Eck Forest to store more carbon will result in substantially greater stores of carbon in the near term than could be achieved by planting trees or from conventional management practices – a major climate benefit. "Carbon dioxide in our atmosphere comes from two sources: fossil fuels and forest loss," says PFT President Laurie Wayburn. “To successfully address climate change, we must work on both sources, complementing the major focus on fossil fuels with actions for forests. We applaud the Governor’s leadership in backing the conservation and carbon management of working forests.” The Governor will pay the Fred M. van Eck Forest Foundation from his own personal funds to acquire the Van Eck Forest Project offsets. The Pacific Forest Trust will represent the landowner. Forest loss, scientists agree, is responsible for roughly 25% of all man-made, global CO2 emissions today (and more than 40% in the past when forestlands were cleared for fuel, cities and farmlands). In the U.S., for example, roughly 1.5 million acres of forests are currently lost to development and conversion each year. Figured conservatively, this forest loss results in the release of 275 million metric tons of CO2 into the atmosphere – a release equivalent to one year’s emissions output by 53 million vehicles. Schwarzenegger’s commitment to offset the impact his air travel has on global warming expands upon similar efforts by other high-ranking California officials and demonstrates growing, bi-partisan support for forests and their climate benefits. Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez (D), who shares the Governor’s desire to see California lead the climate change movement and who authored AB 32, has worked with PFT to use Van Eck Forest carbon to offset travel to various climate-related events including his recent trip to Washington D.C. to testify before the Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee. “Forests are one of the amazing environmental treasures California holds in trust for the future and carbon offsets are an important new tool in our fight against climate change,” states Speaker Nunez. “Being able to lower our carbon footprint and lessen global warming at the same time we’re boosting our forests and their benefits, that’s an easy win-win for California and the world.”
| Download Governor's ER Offset Plans Press Release (PDF) Download Carbon Stores Comparative Chart (PDF)
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Van Eck Forest:
Conservation
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