Carbon sequestration is the trapping of atmospheric carbon (carbon dioxide) into some form where it can stay for decades.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Carbon sequestration occurs naturally by the actions of plants, especially long-lived vegetation, and in certain soils, where it’s deposited as slow-decaying organic matter.\u00a0\u00a0 Plants use sunlight to convert atmospheric carbon dioxide into the chemical that make up plant material–simple sugars, to start with, then starches and more complex chemicals when added to other nutrients.<\/p>\n
Why is this of interest in wildlife management or prairie restoration?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The obvious reason is climate change caused by increasing carbon dioxide levels.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Carbon sequestration by changes in management of both public and private lands is one way to get carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere\u00a0 and into plant materials.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Many of the things a land manager might do to promote wildlife or restore an original ecosystem (forest or grassland)\u00a0 will have multiple benefits…including carbon sequestration.<\/p>\n
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Everything we consider wildlife is on the wrong side of the carbon cycle, as we are…from the snail to the white-tail deer, they all inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide.\u00a0 Only plants work the other half of the cycle.\u00a0\u00a0 Looking out on a piece of land, plants are what we notice–how much plant cover and what kind:\u00a0 grass, forbs, shrubs, trees, etc.<\/p>\n
The carbon sequestration potential of different types of habitat has only recently been considered, and have not been well-researched.\u00a0\u00a0 It’s known that long-lived trees sequester a lot of carbon throughout their lives–and using wood products from cut trees removes that carbon from the atmosphere as long as that wood is protected from decomposition (by its use in construction, for instance.)\u00a0\u00a0 However,\u00a0 it’s also known that when cut or otherwise killed, there’s an immediate burst of carbon dioxide release due to decomposition of the tree’s underground portions.\u00a0\u00a0 Forest and scrub fires are worse,\u00a0 converting the above-ground stored carbon to carbon dioxide by burning, as well as killing the trees and shrubs so that soil deposits are also lost.\u00a0 It’s known that wet soil (having less or no oxygen) stores carbon better than dry soils (especially if they’re opened to oxygen by cultivation.<\/p>\n
Wrede’s 2005 book, Trees, Shrubs, and Vines of the Texas Hill Country<\/em>, published by Texas A&M Press, said that one acre of\u00a0 “thicket” in the Texas hill country would sequester all the carbon produced by driving a car 26,000 miles.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But I haven’t seen any figures on central Texas riparian woods, or on the southern prairies in restoration projects.\u00a0\u00a0 Still, comparisons of old prairie (where it exists) indicates that native prairie does indeed sequester more carbon than shallower-rooted non-native pasture grasses (and far more than lawn grass, which is not useful at all as a carbon sink.<\/p>\n Initially, when we started on this project, one of my goals was to have the grassland entirely empty of woody plants.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 However,\u00a0 with the information about the value of woody plants for carbon sequestration,\u00a0 I’ve been considering whether increasing the fraction of the 80 acres that\u00a0 has some woody plants might not be a better idea.\u00a0 Not in solid forest or even “thicket,” and certainly not in a takeover of Ashe juniper, but in clumps here and there–which (where we have them) do add habitat for nesting birds.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A sort of savannah effect,\u00a0 in those areas where the cedar elm (in particular) keeps sprouting back up.<\/p>\n We’ve also been looking at trees adapted to a hotter, dryer climate–trees from southwest of here–especially for long-lived ones of a size to store significant amounts of carbon–as replacement trees to plant into the riparian woods.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We had long considered encouraging some trees in the southwest meadow,\u00a0 especially along the margins of the existing west woods, to “thicken” that habitat for wildlife,\u00a0 and in the northwest meadow to fill in an angle between the west woods and the main creek woods with more desirable trees than the juniper.\u00a0\u00a0 (Not that the juniper deserves its bad reputation, but we have plenty of them.)<\/p>\n I see several possibilities for land managers in the future.<\/p>\n First, fire is a less desirable management tool when carbon sequestration becomes a goal.\u00a0 For all the good that fire can do in some circumstances, it quickly changes stored carbon to atmospheric carbon dioxide (besides contributing to already poor air quality and thus to human disease.)<\/p>\n Second, carbon sequestration benefits wildlife and also restoration projects, as the methods of sequestration fall in line with other management activities.\u00a0 Increasing coverage of native plants (either woody plants or native grasses) improves habitat for wildlife and tends to create soil conditions that trap more carbon in the soil…while at the same time improving the soil’s water holding ability and thus water quality downslope.\u00a0\u00a0 Erosion control projects using native plants\u00a0 and natural pond protection\/development (including seasonal wetlands of shallow water)\u00a0 produce damper soils that slow decomposition of organic materials.<\/p>\n Third, carbon-sequestering is already providing an new income stream for landowners in the right environments, if they can gain certification as a carbon sequestration project…carbon credits are marketable.<\/p>\n Fourth, the carbon sequestration potential of well-managed small acreages will increase as more and more land is built over and paved.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And thus the managers of smaller and smaller plots will need to consider carbon sequestration in their management practices.<\/p>\n There are always tradeoffs.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Each project has a unique set of conditions.\u00a0 What is right for our 80 acres certainly won’t be right for every 80 acres (let alone 40, or 20, or 10, or 5 acres.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Each landowner\/manager will need to consider carefully what the tradeoffs are for each individual piece of property.\u00a0 But we all need to do that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Carbon sequestration is the trapping of atmospheric carbon (carbon dioxide) into some form where it can stay for decades.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Carbon sequestration occurs naturally by the actions of plants, especially long-lived vegetation, and in certain soils, where it’s deposited as slow-decaying organic matter.\u00a0\u00a0 Plants use sunlight to convert atmospheric carbon dioxide into the chemical that make 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