KPLU Local News
(2010-03-18)
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The Sol Duc River Trail in Olympic National Park.
(AP Photo/George Tibbits)
Portland-based Ecotrust Forest Management bought a private tree farm on the northwest tip of the Olympic Peninsula back in 2005. It has chosen to log less frequently, more selectively, and to leave greater setbacks along streams and steep slopes than the law requires. Project manager Bettina von Hagen says these changes mean more trees absorbing much more carbon dioxide as they grow. That produces carbon credits she has now sold to a New York middleman.
Bettina von Hagen: "If Ecotrust Forests had not purchased the Sooes Forest, I assume the Sooes Forest would have continued in industrially managed hands. The forest practices would have continued as they had before."
Von Hagen says the deal for the carbon credits is worth six figures. Neither seller, nor buyer would be more specific than that. Carbon trading is entirely voluntary in the United States for the time being. Von Hagen speculates some buyers might be stockpiling carbon credits while they're cheap to resell into a more regulated market later. I'm Tom Banse reporting. © Copyright 2012, N3
