Comment Log Display

The Natural Resources and Waste Division should take a broader
approach than that spelled out in the Needs Assessment. 

In particular,it needs to include the full suite of ecosystems that
may or may not fall under ARB's definition of rangelands (oak
woodlands and savanna, grasslands, shrublands including chaparral
and desert scrub and coastal scrub.)  For example mature chaparral
ecosystems in southern California can be a significant carbon sink
(Luo et al, 2007, Oechel, 2013), oak woodlands are a carbon sink
and grasslands can be a carbon sink (Liu et. al., 2012; Silver,
2009; DeLonge et. al., 2014, Baldocchi 2009.)  It also needs to
take into account soil carbon already sequestered and the potential
to store additional soil carbon in the future.

Page 20 paragraph 1 "Targeting investments towards private
landowners with easements on forest and agricultural lands that are
at risk of conversion" would seem to preclude important
opportunities with the broader suite of "rangelands" lands in
southern California that are threatened by development but not used
for livestock grazing.  Investments should include both
conservation easements and fee title acquisition, depending on the
local situation.

The penultimate paragraph on page 19 states "California's lands
should be protected and managed holistically" and in the next
paragraph calls for a "landscape-level approach."  This is an
important way to go and should include use of existing conservation
programs for strategic investments.  The Wildlife Conservation
Board's oak woodlands and rangeland conservation programs are an
excellent opportunity.  
County-scale Natural Community Conservation Plans and regional
Habitat Conservation Plans being prepared or implemented across the
state will, when completed, provide permanent conservation of over
2 million acres with both fee simple acquisition and conservation
easement approaches.  This includes significant acreage in addition
to acres protected to mitigate for impacts of economic activities.
Until protected, most of these lands are threatened by development
or conversion. The conservation protects existing sequestered
carbon, and provides opportunities for additional carbon
sequestration.  The requirement for management plans and adaptive
management programs will, in many cases, provide opportunities for
habitat-friendly management that increases carbon sequestration. 
This conservation planning takes a landscape scale approach and is
holistic in that it provides many of co-benefits.  Including
opportunities for investment in these conservation plans through
appropriate competitive grant programs needs to be a significant
part of the next three-year plan. 

Recognize that the loss of natural ecosystems is severe and
ongoing.  Liu et al (2012) projected that 17 percent of the
grassland and shrubland areas in California's Mediterranean climate
region will be lost to conversion between 2005 and 2050.  The major
causes are urban/suburban/rural development and conversion to
orchards and vineyards.  Essentially all of the remaining coastal
sage scrub habitat in southern California that is not protected as
conservation land (primarily through Natural Community Conservation
Plans) will be lost to suburban and rural development.  All of
these conversions will result in substantial release of CO2 into
the atmosphere.  For example, conversion of natural ecosystems to
agricultural land results in loss of 25 to 50 percent of the
original organic carbon (Lal, 2001). 

When natural and working lands are converted to urban / suburban 
or rural development there are two carbon impacts.  The first is
loss of vegetation and soil carbon from land clearing and grading. 
The second is long term increased carbon emissions by vehicles and
other uses in the developed areas.  For example, a recent UC Davis
study if Yolo County shows that the annual carbon emissions level
of urban lands is 219-fold higher than rangelands and 70-fold
higher than irrigated croplands (Jackson et al, 2012).  

Recognize the full variety of co-benefits from the conservation of
natural and working lands and which are an essential part of the
holistic, landscape scale, approach.  These include protection and
restoration of healthy watersheds, groundwater recharge, retention
of floodwaters in natural and agricultural floodplains, protection
and restoration of healthy ecosystems with their essential
ecosystem function and processes,  recreation and nature
appreciation opportunities for urban dwellers, tourism, sustaining
family ranches and farms and rural communities.

References

Baldocchi D. (2009)  Carbon and Water Exchange of an Oak-grass
Savanna and Peatland Pasture Ecosystem.  Berkeley Faculty
Roundtable on Environmental Services in Rangeland Production
Systems.  March 20 2009.  University of California, Berkeley.

DeLonge MS, Owen JJ and Silver WL. (2014) Greenhouse Gas Mitigation
Opportunities in California Agriculture: Review of California
Rangeland Emissions and Mitigation Potential. Nicholas Institute
GGMOCA R 4. Durham, NC: Duke University

Jackson L. et.al. (2012) Adaptation Strategies for Agricultural 
Sustainability in Yolo County, California.  California Energy
Commission Publication number: CEC-500-2012-032.

Lal R. (2001) World Cropland Soils as a Source or Sink for
Atmospheric Carbon, Advances in Agronomy. 71:145-191.

Liu S. et. al. (2012) Baseline and Projected Future Carbon Storage
and Greenhouse-Gas Fluxes in Ecosystems of the Western United
States. In Zhu S and Reed BC, eds. Baseline and Projected Future
Carbon Storage and Greenhouse-Gas Fluxes in Ecosystems of the
Western United States. Chapter 5. U.S. Geological Survey
Professional Paper 1797. Reston VA.

Luo H. et.al. (2007) Mature Semiarid Chaparral Ecosystems can be a
Significant Sink for Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide. Global Change
Biology. 13:386-396.

Oechel W. (2013) The Effects of Climate Change: Elevated CO2,
Climate Variability, and Fire, on the Functioning and Atmospheric
Feedbacks of Chaparral of Southern California and the Desert of
Baja California, Mexico.  Powerpoint presentation.  February 6
2013.
www.otmed.fr/IMG/pdf/Walter_Oechel_06_February_2013.pdf

Silver WL (2009)  Soil Carbon Pools in California Rangeland Soils:
Implications for Carbon  Sequestration.  Berkeley Faculty
Roundtable on Environmental Services in Rangeland Production
systems.  March 6 2009.  University of California, Berkeley.