Andrea Tuttle should know better than to offer rationalizations for the inclusion of clearcutting in the forest protocols just adopted by the ARB. When she was CDF Director during the Gray Davis administraiton, we were both involved in negotiating and writing the 2002 legislation (SB 812 - Sher) that was the impetus to the original forest carbon protocols. Those protocols required natural forest management and did not allow even-age logging practices. But those provisions were explicitly changed in 2009 at the behest of major clearcutting companies like Green Diamond and Sierra Pacific Industries. Sure, the seedlings that must be planted under current CDF forest practice rules sequester carbon, but a primary goal of the SB 812 forest protocols was to protect the co-benefits that old-growth forests provide, esp. in terms of dependent species. In 2007, Pacific Forest Trust, TNC, and groups like Sierra Club and California Trout supported adoption of the SB 812 protocols by ARB for the voluntary carbon offset market. That's all been changed now so that companies like Green Diamond and SPI can take advantage of the lucrative carbon trading market without changing their current business models. Sadly, PFT and TNC are providing Green Wash to this narrative and should be embarrassed. TNC is actively working to export use of the just-adopted ARB forest protocols as a template for preserving native rainforests in places like Brazil to slow down or ameliorate climate change. Instead of being apologists for clearcutting, they should be advocating for a carbon trading scheme that also helps protect remnant old-growth forests in this country and state. Just because clearcutting is legal doesn't mean it should be encouraged or incentivized.
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Posted by
Jeff Shellito
on 12/27/2010 at 12:00 PM
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Re: “Trapper Keepers”
Andrea Tuttle should know better than to offer rationalizations for the inclusion of clearcutting in the forest protocols just adopted by the ARB. When she was CDF Director during the Gray Davis administraiton, we were both involved in negotiating and writing the 2002 legislation (SB 812 - Sher) that was the impetus to the original forest carbon protocols. Those protocols required natural forest management and did not allow even-age logging practices. But those provisions were explicitly changed in 2009 at the behest of major clearcutting companies like Green Diamond and Sierra Pacific Industries. Sure, the seedlings that must be planted under current CDF forest practice rules sequester carbon, but a primary goal of the SB 812 forest protocols was to protect the co-benefits that old-growth forests provide, esp. in terms of dependent species. In 2007, Pacific Forest Trust, TNC, and groups like Sierra Club and California Trout supported adoption of the SB 812 protocols by ARB for the voluntary carbon offset market. That's all been changed now so that companies like Green Diamond and SPI can take advantage of the lucrative carbon trading market without changing their current business models. Sadly, PFT and TNC are providing Green Wash to this narrative and should be embarrassed. TNC is actively working to export use of the just-adopted ARB forest protocols as a template for preserving native rainforests in places like Brazil to slow down or ameliorate climate change. Instead of being apologists for clearcutting, they should be advocating for a carbon trading scheme that also helps protect remnant old-growth forests in this country and state. Just because clearcutting is legal doesn't mean it should be encouraged or incentivized.