The state of Massachusetts has released a plan to protect and manage forest lands, prioritizing the natural resource for its carbon sequestration capabilities.
More than 55 percent of the Bay State is forested, covering roughly 3 million acres.
The Forests as Climate Solutions Initiative includes recommendations from a state-formed committee and public input, covering topics such as forest management, siting of renewable energy infrastructure and timber harvesting. To understand the plan, WAMC's Jim Levulis spoke with two members of the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs: Kurt Gaertner, the Assistant Secretary for Environmental Policy, and Stephanie Cooper, the Undersecretary for the Environment.
Cooper: This was a yearlong process, Forests as Climate Solutions. And really it's looking at all of the forests of the Commonwealth, be they be publicly owned or privately, and looking at how do we best manage, protect and steward them for all the values and benefits they provide, but particularly focusing on carbon and climate change and making sure that we have the latest science and the best information to guide how we go about doing that.
Gaertner: The forests of the Commonwealth store a very significant portion of the carbon and the natural working landscape, and it was just really important to make sure, as the undersecretary said, that we were protecting and stewarding them with the latest climate science in mind.
Cooper: I would add too that this is very closely tied to the Commonwealth Clean Energy and Climate plan, which is our roadmap of how are we going to get to our legal requirement to get to net zero emissions by 2050 and natural working lands, particularly forests are really an important part of that, a bedrock of that goal is going to be conserving 40% of the Commonwealth by 2050 so that's a really important fundamental goal that we're advancing through this initiative.
Levulis: And to put some numbers to that, particularly to the carbon aspect of it, according to the state, the forest ecosystems in Massachusetts contain carbon stocks equivalent to about 1.2 gigatons of carbon dioxide, and the net carbon sequestration from forest land is equivalent to just over 10% of the statewide annual greenhouse gas emissions. Through this plan, is there an expectation or a milestone that would impact those figures?
Gaertner: I guess I would cite two things. One is we did, as the under secretary, mentioned, set a land conservation objective, both in the clean energy and climate plan, and it was repeated in forest as climate solutions and our plan that's intended to secure for the future to meet those climate targets, to meet the greenhouse gas reduction. It essentially helps to ensure that that carbon is on the landscape, that sequestration occurs, and that we have the capacity to meet our net zero target in 2050.
Cooper: I would just add that the projections that you may have taken a look at through the clean energy and climate plan or our land sector plan, which is a part of that, show that we in order to make it to net zero, there are residual emissions that are predicted to still be in play around 2050, and forests and natural working lands are part of the solution of how we're going to get to net zero. So we really, we really need them to be sustained and to be absorbing that carbon.
Gaertner: Another important aspect of this is avoided conversion. We're going to conserve as much as we can meet our 40% objective, but we also need to be careful to cite our developments in ways and in places that help to reduce the amount of conversion of forests and other natural land cover types, because they help us meet those carbon sequestration numbers you mentioned a minute ago.
Yeah, I found it interesting in looking at this plan, Kurt to your point about conversion, that the plan specifically notes that in obviously the discussion about lowering greenhouse gas emissions overall, and the shift to alternative energy that the Commonwealth will look to ensure that renewable energy infrastructure, thinking things along the line of solar panels, will avoid forest conversion where possible. What are some of the factors that the state will consider when making those decisions? Is this a good spot to put solar panels in if it leads to a reduction in forest land?
Gaertner: Well, I would cite a couple of things. One is that the administration and allies have just completed work on the energy infrastructure siting commission that relates to being very careful and judicious in our work. There's some legislation expected to come from that that gets at siting suitability, not just for solar, but for all varieties of infrastructure that are important here, and that those siting suitability criteria would look to avoid areas to the extent possible that are, for example, priority habitat or forested. We know we can't entirely avoid, but we do want to be strategic in our siting. And the other thing I would mention is that the response and the report of the committee itself calls for, as you say, judicious siting of solar, and the administration is in the process of reconsidering its Smart Solar program, and the criteria for that program, it essentially amounts to the type of financial incentive provided and where you can earn certain types of incentives for solar siting. The general idea being that we want to avoid conversion, where we can again for energy facilities and encourage siting of solar on places like parking lots and on top of buildings where we can both gain the renewable energy benefits we're looking for and avoid impacts to forested land.
Cooper: I would just add that, you know, sort of bigger picture. It's about an administration wide approach to balance all these important goals and move them all forward at the same time. You know the conservation goals, the clean energy goals, the important affordable housing goals, and, you know, sustainable economic development at the same time.
Gaertner: Two other quick things, the state's Department of Energy Resources and Mass Audubon and some allies both did some studies, some work on siting of solar that also get at the question you're asking, ‘Can we cite solar in ways that has a lower footprint, lower impact on natural resources?’ And both of those, the administration's own tool and one done by some other conservation organizations, speak to the ability to do that
Cooper: And show that it's very possible.
When it comes to forest management, this plan notes that the state will largely pursue passive management instead of active management, actions such as thinning and fire prevention on state forest land. Why go with passive management in these areas?
Cooper: So here's something important to mention, to keep in mind, is that right now and historically in recent years, we have managed actively, through sustainable harvesting, about one half of 1% of the acreage of state lands. And so by default, other lands have been managed passively. So what we're saying is that now, going forward, we're going to continue targeted active management. We think it's important, and we have specific goals that we want to advance, and then we're also going to more consciously manage lands passively. So establish more forest reserves where we're promoting older forest conditions. And then we're also going to be doing monitoring and scientific studies to evaluate the results of passive management versus active. So this plan is really about an all of the above approach across the landscape. So we are going to be doing both. But I do think it's just important to note that, you know, historically, we've been managing actively at a pretty low level, which is partly reflective of deploying our resources in ways where we can be, you know, overseeing projects really well.
And you mentioned the reserves there. The plan lays out a goal of establishing reserves on 10% of all forest land in Massachusetts, about 300,000 acres. And we've been discussing this 40% target as well in terms of conservation. What are some of the ways the state plans to meet that goal in terms of easements, landowners willing to sell to the state, anything along those lines?
Gaertner: Well, there's a variety of ways in which we intend to approach that. I think first of all, we will take a look at existing state land holdings for locations that are appropriate for reserve designations. The administration has also already set aside $8 million partially for grants to other organizations and partially for state acquisitions with reserves in mind. So we're going to acquire additional presently un-conserved land with the objective of having additional reserves. And critically, we're also going to look to allies, partners in the conservation space, whether that's municipalities, some of our land trust colleagues, and really look at a partnership that achieves that 10% across forested land owned by a whole variety of entities.
Cooper: I would just add to that, that that could include, you know, designating existing property owned by a land trust could be designated as a reserve. It could also include, as Kurt just said, new acquisitions. And when you ask the question, you mentioned easements, which we call conservation restrictions. So we certainly anticipate having some reserves be conservation restrictions on private land as well.
There's an economic side, of course, to forestry and forest land. Particularly to the Bay State, forestry and related industries support almost 38,000 jobs, $3.1 billion in labor income, $9.2 billion in output, figures according to the state. Do you expect this plan to have any sort of economic impact when it comes to those numbers and those industries?
Gaertner: Well, I'd say there's a couple of aspects of the Forests as Climate Solutions that have not yet come up in this conversation. One is that we have an aspect, or a branch of the initiative that focuses on working with forestry businesses and makes an effort to improve the sustainability of those businesses, to improve the wood product use. As we harvest wood, our climate objectives are best met by long lived wood products, and we have increased the amount of funding going through what's called our Working Forest Program to assist forest landowners, to assist the business environment you just talked about with those sorts of activities. We are mindful that the sort of management we're talking about in our response is very important to those working in the industry.
Cooper: Obviously our overall goal is to keep our forest, and so one of the ways that we get at that, given that most are privately owned, is that we help pay, you know, help support landowners, to hire a professional to help them create a long-term forest management plan. So whatever their goals are for their property, whether they're passive or active, whether they're related to carbon or wildlife or whatever, or, wood products that we help those plans be developed. And then that often leads to, you know, hiring a harvester to do some timber harvesting on a property which has an economic benefit. So we are mindful of that in the way that we deploy our resources and created the different aspects of this program.
Gaertner: Also when crews are in the field performing a forest management project, we are also providing funding for those projects to incorporate some of the better state of the art practices relative to management. One of them is use something called a timber mat. It helps to avoid soil and other environmental impacts and the release of carbon. We're also providing a number of other incentives through a new program called C-SIP [Climate Stewardship Incentive Program]. There's a number of new funding mechanisms that are industry and landowner intended to help with practices.
And to follow up on that. Will this plan lead to any more regulations, restrictions for industry or landowners as it pertains to forestry and forest practices?
Cooper: I would note that one of the things we're going to be updating is our best management practices. And so again, taking all these best climate oriented practices that we've just gathered through this process and applying those to best management practices. And some of those BMPs are required for forestry carried out in Massachusetts, and some of them are recommended. So I would look at that. The timber mat example that Kurt just gave is one. So I think some of those are in the category of efficiency, and then they're also in the category of lessening impact on the landscape by just having the best and latest practices in place. So we will be doing that, and I think to the degree necessary, we may be updating some of our regulations, our forest cutting practices, regulations, again all around making sure that we have the best and latest practices in place.
Gaertner: Undersecretary Cooper mentioned that some of the practices are required and others are optional. One important thing that we did embrace as an administration is that for projects on state lands, we will be pursuing all of those practices regardless of whether they're required or optional. So private industry, private landowners, there are certain ones that are required and others that we would like them to pursue, but they aren't required to as the state we've chosen to implement all of the practices.
Cooper: So when we carry out active management on state lands, we're committed to exemplary forestry, and that's part of how we do that.
And I'll note that the plan here indicates that a new best management practices manual is expected to be released in June of 2025 if I understand that's what you're getting at?
Cooper: That's exactly right.
And then finally, as part of this overall forestry initiative, a piece of it, from my understanding, includes collecting and providing more data and monitoring of forestry and forest land. What are some of the ways and methods that will be accomplished?
Cooper: Yeah, this is really important. So one thing you know, we're creating a public dashboard to display all the information that we have about forest. So we have what are called continuous forest inventory plots across a lot of but not all of state lands. And those are, you know, at certain selected trees throughout our state forest that we collect data from periodically, and that helps us understand, you know, the health of the forest and what the growth is. And also from that, we can measure how much carbon is being sequestered. So we're investing in more plots so that we can have a real picture across all of our state lands. And then we also, we get data from the Forest Service national inventory, and so we're going to invest in more of that. And then, you know, people are really interested in carbon, right? It's really important, and how much carbon are our forest sequestering and storing? So that's information that we're going to be sharing through this dashboard as well.
Gaertner: We also have been asked to make information on our forest management readily available. So we're making efforts to consolidate, provide on the dashboard information on our long-range plans for forest management, and specifically each year when we choose a particular management project, indicating where that is, providing what's called a forest cutting plan for those projects. But the point is generally committed to being making information readily available on the type of forestry we're performing and where we're doing it, and, of course, the objectives we're seeking when we pursue those projects.
