Summer 2019 ForestLife

Black Butte: Investing in forests for a healthy climate

From cap & trade to the urban-wildland interface: the story of a partnership between CAL FIRE, PFT, and Michigan-California Timber Company to protect the iconic Black Butte Working Forest

From left: CAL FIRE’s Helge Eng, PFT Co-CEO Connie Best, and MCTC Timberlands Manager Chris Chase at Black Butte Working Forest.

If you’ve driven along Interstate 5 near Mount Shasta in northern California, no doubt you’ve seen the iconic cinder cone of Black Butte. Maybe you’ve even hiked the trail to the top. (If so, well done!) As of December 2018, this iconic landscape was permanently protected with a Working Forest Conservation Easement (WFCE) funded through California’s Climate Investments. It is a great example of how California is using cap and trade auction proceeds to create a more carbon-rich and climate-resilient landscape—a win-win for all involved.

The Black Butte Working Forest, held by family-owned Michigan-California Timber Company (MCTC), is nestled between the cities of Weed and Mt. Shasta City, bounded by I-5 and surrounded on its eastern side by the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. “Catastrophic fire is a real danger for these communities,” says PFT Co-CEO Connie Best. “People talk about the urban-wildland interface, that place where the natural lands come together with the city. Well, this is it.”

Considered a prime area for resort development, the Black Butte Working Forest instead will forever be part of Mount Shasta’s forested flanks, sustainably managed by MCTC for wood products as well as for enhanced wildlife habitat and carbon stores, fire risk reduction, and watershed values.

Chris Chase, MCTC’s Timberlands Manager, relates, “We wanted to maintain this particular tract in timber production. After developers approached us a number of times over the years, I connected with the folks at PFT and we were able to craft something that works for all parties involved.”

Protecting Black Butte is the first phase of the Mt. Shasta Headwaters Forest Health and Resilience Project. This project integrates conservation and management, starting with the easement and continuing with fuels management, and will benefit the public through its contributions to resiliency, carbon storage, and wildlife adaptation, among others. Project partners include PFT, MCTC, and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), which funded the easement through its Forest Health and Forest Legacy Programs.

“The Black Butte Working Forest project is exactly the kind of investment that the State of California will be making more of, preventing the expansion of the urban-wildland interface and helping landowners manage forests for fire resiliency. These are priorities for CAL FIRE, especially in communities like Weed and Mt. Shasta that depend on forests economically but which are also at risk of extreme wildfire.”
—Stewart McMorrow, CAL FIRE Deputy Chief of Forestry Assistance

California’s cap and trade program, which was established by the state’s Global Warming Solutions Act (AB 32), allows carbon emitters to bid for carbon allowances. Since 2013, these auctions have raised more than $9 billion, creating the California Climate Investments Program which funds projects that help protect our climate. This includes the allocation of some $4 billion to the lands sector, supporting projects like the Black Butte Working Forest to protect and steward forests, as well as conserving farms and ranches and restoring wetlands and wet meadows.

Natural and working lands provide some of the best opportunities to solve the climate crisis while also helping people and wildlife in so many ways, and are increasingly the focus of the state’s Air Resources Board as a sector to address climate change. Linking climate and conservation, PFT ensures forests remain forests, well-managed for climate benefits as well as sustaining rural communities, wildlife, and water, forever.