U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Carbon Sequestration April 2010 Restoring native wildlife habitat and capturing carbon

One of the tools developed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over the past decade to address climate change is an innovative terrestrial carbon sequestration program that uses plants to absorb carbon dioxide. The program, born out of conversations between the Service’s biologists and Dynegy in 1997, is the first of its kind among natural resource agencies.

Pocosin Forested Wetland, Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge Prothonotary warbler The Service works with more than two existing refuges for the benefit of fish, dozen energy companies, Environmental wildlife, and migratory bird populations. Synergy, Inc., The Trust for Public Land, Dynegy, and The Conservation Fund. Together these partners have planted In total, the Service has added 40,000 more than 22 million trees that will acres of restored habitat on nearly fifty capture more than 33 million tons of national wildlife refuges — and created carbon over the next 90-plus years. a new refuge in Louisiana, the Red And it’s not just bottomland hardwood River National Wildlife Refuge — while restoration where the opportunities are restoring more than 80,000 acres of being found. former farmland to native habitats on In 2006, the Service began restoring Tamaulipan thorn-scrub habitat on the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge in Texas with the American Green tree frog Forests Global ReLeaf and The Conservation Today, the program has grown into Fund’s Go Zero program. a multi-pronged effort involving More than175 acres individuals, energy companies and of habitat have been conservation organizations. It is a key restored. part of the Service’s effort to restore the Lower Mississippi Valley, which saw Nearly 11,000 acres of its forested wetland habitat shrink from pocosin wetlands, or 24 million acres to less than five million shrub bogs, have been acres in the 20th century. Success in the restored on the Pocosin Lower Mississippi Valley led the Service Lakes National Wildlife to expand the program nationally. Machine planting hardwood seedlings, Tensas River Refuge by installing All photos credit USFWS National Wildlife Refuge water control structures. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

The wetlands, which had been drained the Service, The Fund expects to restore for agriculture and peat mining, act as wildlife habitat through reforestation chemical sponges for carbon, nitrogen across the refuge system by planting at and metals. The Service is working on least 400,000 trees annually. That means the project with the North Carolina each year, the Service will plant enough Department of Environment and Natural trees to sequester at least 300,000 tons of Resources and the Duke University carbon over 90-plus years. Wetlands Center. With ever-tightening budgets, the Service Early in the Service’s carbon is working with partners to pursue sequestration program, partners simply strategic, landscape-level conservation restored natural vegetation on highly activities aimed at ensuring the right degraded lands already owned by the conservation activities take place in Service. Today, energy companies the right places. Expanding terrestrial purchase high value lands, restore carbon sequestration activities will be them based on wildlife conservation an increasingly important part of the priorities, then donate the restored Service’s conservation work. With this lands to land trust partners and the and other innovative conservation tools, Service. They also provide limited funds the Service and its partners will enhance to support operations and maintenance, and connect critical wildlife corridors and reserving the carbon credits to report for blocks of habitat in the most important Hand planting seedlings, Catahoula themselves under long-term agreements. areas based on the best science available National Wildlife Refuge related to climate change impacts and In 2007, the Service announced a new mitigation needs. Restoring native wildlife habitats and partnership with The Conservation capturing carbon represents a “win-win” Fund and its Go Zero initiative that The next frontier for this work involves for the Service, its partners, and our gives individuals and organizations a working with private landowners. The constituents. way to offset their carbon emissions Service will work closely with other by contributing funds to plant native federal, state, and private conservation For more information, please contact trees on national wildlife refuges. It’s a organizations that use existing incentives Pete Jerome, Refuge Supervisor, U.S. voluntary, non-regulatory program to or newly created ones to conserve and Fish and Wildlife Service, at 404/679 7157 reduce carbon emissions. Working with restore native habitats on private lands. or [email protected]

Tree planting crew, Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge Old growth forest, Bayou Cocodrie National Wildlife Refuge

THE CONSERVATION FUND