Could Carbon Offsets Save the Old Forest?

The Commercial Appeal reported this week that local plant ecologist and taxonomist, Tom Heineke, has been hired by the Memphis Park Services division to conduct a complete inventory of the trees and plants in Overton Park's 150 acres of old growth forest.

Citizens to Preserve Overton Park, headed by Naomi Van Tol, is currently working to convince the Zoo to unfence 17 acres of old forest rather than develop it into an exhibit. (Earlier this year, the Zoo clearcut four acres of old growth forest to start construction on its Teton Trek exhibit.)

"A complete botanical survey of the old forest has never been done before, and this is a necessary step toward long-term preservation," Van Tol said. "This survey will give everyone a better understanding of why this old-growth forest deserves our protection."

Hopefully the botanical study of Overton Park's old forest will be enough to convince local legislators that the forest is worth saving, but if not, maybe the prospect of cashing in on it, will.

The Chattanooga Times Free Press reported on Saturday that the Tennessee River Gorge Trust is researching whether they might cash in on their 6,140-acre cache of trees by selling carbon off-sets.

With carbon dioxide considered a major contributor to global warming, carbon is now traded like a commodity on the Chicago Climate Exchange. Tennessee Gorge Trust officials see the opportunity not just as a way to earn money, but also as a way to preserve more local land, forest and scenery.

“Money talks,” said Ms. Sexton, the trust’s administrative assistant who is analyzing 17 gorge plots for a master’s thesis in the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s environmental science program. “If you can pay people to keep trees on their property, then it’s an incentive to keep land forested.”


Photo from the Commercial Appeal