A Northern California wildfire is burning in a vast swath of land where trees are protected in exchange for so-called carbon credits.
The Shelly Fire, which ignited July 3 in Siskiyou County, has spread across thousands of acres of land owned by the Portland-based Ecotrust Forest Management, or EFM. The investment firm protects the trees on its land, rather than clear-cut logging them as some neighboring landowners do. Storing carbon on the land in the form of trees allows the company to sell carbon credits intended to offset the harmful climate effects of other activities.
Carbon credits are often sold to companies or individuals who want to make up for other polluting activities. Some companies bill themselves as carbon-neutral because they say the carbon offsets they buy into account for their pollution.
The Shelly Fire has burned across about 11,000 acres of EFM’s 18,000-acre carbon storage project in Siskiyou County. This raises questions about the viability of carbon storage projects in areas prone to high-severity fire.
Much of EFM’s carbon offset plot hadn’t burned for 70 years or more before the Shelly Fire, and as a result was covered with extremely overstocked, unhealthy forests — conditions that can result in high-severity fire that decimates trees.
Carbon offset programs are controversial, and recent studies have found that many of them aren’t effective. But last year, companies and individuals spent $1.7 billion dollars voluntarily buying carbon offsets, according to the New York Times.
In all, the Shelly Fire has grown to 15,473 acres since it started July 3. Firefighters reported 18% containment on Friday, but thanks to some recent rain and successful firefighting tactics, the spread of the fire has mostly halted.
The Lookout will be digging further into the topic of fire and carbon offset project. For more in-depth analysis and mapping of the Shelly Fire, check out today’s livestream.