Roots • Dec 15-21,2017
News
Page 7
Clear-cutting now No. 1 in state for emissions
Center for Sustainable Economy renews calls for climate-change legislation to include timber regulations
BY JOANNE ZUHL
E X E C U T IV E E D IT O R
ndustrial clear-cutting of Oregon’s forest
is now the state’s single largest source of
greenhouse gas emissions, according to
a new analysis released Monday Dec. 11., by
the Center for Sustainable Economy.
That’s a move up from second place in
the center’s 2015 initial report, compiled in
conjunction with the Geos Institute and
Oregon Wild.
Regardless of its impact, however, the
industry remains virtually unaffected by the
state’s proposed climate change legislation.
Senate Bill 1070, which would create a
carbon marketplace with incentives for
reducing emissions, doesn’t include the
timber industry’s impact on climate at all,
which is topping out at an average of 33
million metric tons of greenhouse gases
each year. By comparison, the previous No.
1 - transportation - emits between 20 and
24 million metric tons each year.
As with the 2015 report, John Talberth,
president and chief economist for the
center, is renewing calls for Gov. Kate
Brown and the Oregon Legislature to amend
SB 1070 and include the timber industry in
new regulations proposed to curb
greenhouse gas emissions. The appeal is
going out directly in letters to the governor;
Rep. Ken Helm (D-Beaverton), chair of the
Forests are clear-cut near Eugene. According to
workgroup on Agriculture, Forests,
source o f greenhouse gas emissions in Oregon.
Fisheries, Rural Communities and Tribes;
and Sen. Michael Dembrow (D-Portland),
chair of the Senate Environment and
Natural Resources Committee.
“Gov. Brown and the Legislature remain
asleep at the switch as the climate crisis
deepens,” Talberth said. “And the
opportunity to make this globally significant
contribution slips by, clear-cut after clear-cut
after clear-cut.”
Talberth said the underlying facts in the
report are neither new nor speculative.
“The science and economics are
unambiguous. The world needs to phase out
industrial forestry as rapidly as possible and
dramatically scale up climate smart
alternatives if we have any hope of leveling
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off and reducing the atmospheric
concentration of CO2 back to the 350 parts
per million safe zone. We’ve known this for
quite a long time, and yet we have zero
action by Gov. Brown and the legislature.
They’re completely asleep at the switch, and
this has to change.”
The timber exemption stems from a
policy developed by the timber industry that
allows it to deduct from its emission levels
and short-rotation timber plantations, and
the amount of carbon dioxide absorbed by
also reward sustainable foresters. The third
forests and other green spaces, including
proposal is to require “Big Timber” to
private properties. However, the offset is a
develop and adhere to long-term climate
false measurement of the timber industry s
resiliency plans that set targets for
actual emissions and its impact on climate
accumulating and restoring lost carbon to
change or the health of our forests, Talberth
the land and reverting plantations to natural
said.
forests.
The report offers three legislative options
In February, Oregon’s Global Warming
to rein in timber emissions: The first would
Commission released its biennial report to
be to include the timber industry in the
the state legislature, emphasizing an
proposed cap-and-invest climate bill, SB
increased urgency to action around climate
1070. The second option would have the
change and calling for more attention on
legislature tax emissions from clear-cutting
I
PHOTO
B Y C A L IB A S /W IK IM E D IA
C O M M O N S
(C C B Y -S A 3 .0 )
a new report by the Center fo r Sustainable Economy, industrial clear-cutting is the leading
how the state tracks forest carbon. But the
commission stops short of recommending
specific changes to address timber
regulations until its own Forest Carbon
Accounting Project is completed. On Dec.
19, the commission will hold a public
meeting in Salem to discuss, among other
things, findings from the Forest Carbon
Task Force and content for the 2018 Report
to the Legislature.
Poor forestry practices are not just
damaging on issues related to climate,
Talberth said; they also contribute to other
environmental decline, including raising
temperatures, decreasing water flow,
accelerating species extinction and
increasing the severity of wildfires, insect
outbreaks, disease and landslides, according
to the report. The lack of forestry standards
has resulted in more short-rotation timber
plantations, which are less productive in
absorbing and storing carbon dioxide than
natural forests.
In contrast to the high rates of carbon
emissions from poorly managed forests, the
alternative with the “climate smart”
practices can be extreme with global
benefits.
“The good news is that flipping these
practices into climate-smart alternatives can
help these landscapes capture and
permanently store more carbon than any
other forest type on the planet, and better
withstand floods, droughts or wildfires,”
Talberth said.
The lack of regulation on timber practices
has created what the report labels “dead
zones,” clear-out lands that emit more
carbon then they absorb. Clear-cutting in
Oregon, the report notes, has contributed to
a net loss of 1.7 million acres of forest cover
statewide since 2000.
Talberth said any argument from the
timber industry that climate-smart practices
would jeopardize their viability is not valid.
Small-scale sustainable forests are already
implementing climate-smart practices, he
said, and are making money and facing
increased demands for their products
because consumers of wood products are
becoming more and more ecologically
conscientious and climate conscientious.
“The demand for the climate-smart
product is going nowhere but up,” Talberth
said. “So the timber industry doesn’t really
have a leg to stand on because there’s
already the proof of concept out there. They
just need to switch from having this very
short-term focus of maximizing profits to
short term investors to a longer term
commitment to practices that are good for
humanity and good for Oregonians in the
long run.
“Inaction is inexcusable given humanity’s
urgent need to draw down atmospheric
carbon as fast and as efficiently as possible,”
Talberth said. “And passing legislation to flip
industrial forest practices in Oregon to
climate-smart alternatives, it’s the one thing
Gov. Brown and the legislators can do that
can have global significance because of the
inherent advantage that Pacific Northwest
forests have in storing more carbon than any
other place on Earth.”