Why is Reforestation Involved?

Carbon sequestration can be conducted by the reforestation of agricultural lands. Healthy growing hardwood forests are highly effective at naturally sequestering carbon and converting it to forest biomass.

Land use change is one of the main causes of the carbon imbalance and represents approximately 25 percent of all carbon dioxide emissions. On an average acre of land, annual farming practices release more carbon into the atmosphere than is sequestered or held by the soil and plant growth on that acre. Disked land is considered a carbon "source." By contrast, a healthy growing bottomland hardwood forest is a carbon "sink" that absorbs carbon. Over a 70-year period, the net difference between an acre in annual row crop production and an acre of bottomland hardwood forest is roughly 500 tons of atmospheric carbon that is sequestered by the forest.

A partnership with private industry to restore priority bottomland hardwood forests will have major benefits to fish and wildlife resources. Several companies are already involved in such an effort. For example, American Electric Power has conducted voluntary carbon sequestration projects to protect rain forests in Bolivia and Brazil and the restoration of 10,000 acres of wetlands in Louisiana. Texaco is involved with the Rio Bravo Project in Belize and the purchase of additional lands in the Lower Mississippi Valley. There are already approximately 40 companies involved in voluntary carbon sequestration projects, some of which are in Mississippi.

Public lands serve as anchors for biodiversity that are enhanced and supported by the reforestation of private lands. Foremost in resource management is the restoration and management of National Wildlife Refuge lands. As reforestation needs on federal and state lands are fulfilled, efforts are then shifted to private lands. It is envisioned that more conservation entities will be included as the reforestation efforts expand to include private lands. This program has the potential to greatly expand the funding available and the acres needed to meet the demand for reforestation. If this happens, there will be ample opportunity for additional conservation organizations and hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of acres of private lands to be reforested.

The proposed reforestation of bottomland hardwood forests to sequester carbon is not only cost effective, but is also preferred by some landowners. Moreover, this reforestation plan is a superb tool to maintain biodiversity and achieve resource goals. Carbon sequestration helps restore the natural environment, better air quality and provide habitat for countless species.

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