Forests and Carbon

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The staff of SIG can help clients that are interested in monitoring forest conditions, participating in carbon exchange programs, and determining optimal management strategies. We have experience assisting clients with purchasing, auditing, verifying and certifying forest carbon offsets by providing expert services on the complex dynamics of forest ecosystems. We also evaluate different scenarios of forest management for goal optimization. This includes mapping and monitoring forests, estimating forest biomass using both remote sensing and field methods, and modeling the growth and disturbance regime of forests under different scenarios. In the process, the team at SIG can help clients determine which forest projects are likely to yield high-quality and legitimate carbon offsets.

Forest Carbon Science:

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Our forestry carbon science is focused on integrated carbon assessments and forest growth projections.  SIG forest carbon scientists are involved in a variety of studies, both as the principal investigator and technical consultant, mostly aimed at modeling quantifiable, enforceable, and verifiable carbon credits.  SIG has adopted an integrative research approach to conduct comprehensive scientific studies with a level of rigor and knowledge that allows for a more informed foundation on the role of forest carbon within complex ecological systems.  Our research offerings are organized around the following themes.
• Applied Research
• Basic Research
• Tool Development
• Integration Work

Carbon Project Support

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With the advent of carbon markets, private land managers and conservation organizations are becoming aware of the potential of their lands to attract investment through carbon storage and are beginning to consider adapting their management practices accordingly.
 
• Planning and Regulation Compliance – SIG’s staff has the skill sets and knowledge necessary to integrate carbon into forest management plans, regardless of whether its objective is timber production, wildlife conservation, or wilderness management.  Thus far, SIG has been providing services for Option A, Sustained Yield Plans (SYP), Non Industrial Timber Management Plans (NTMP) and Program Timberland Environmental Impact Reports (PTEIRs).
 
• Project Development – SIG also offers its clients an opportunity to design appropriate management scenarios for carbon sequestration.  By publishing its findings and remaining science-based, SIG has positioned itself at the forefront of carbon assessment, verification and monitoring. Our services for forest carbon project development include:
 i.   Landscape carbon estimation and mapping

ii.  Inventory processing: ground plot – remote sensing integration

iii. Protocol-specific reduction estimation (RELs) and feasibility analysis (including pre-project assessments) 

iv. Verification Support (primarily biometrician support services)

v.  Linkages between carbon projects and Forest Stewardship Certification (FSC) (including and  performing audits)

Forest Biometrics

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Information is needed to plan, manage and value working forests. SIG forest scientists provide biometrical expertise in inventory, growth simulation, and scheduling to estimate multiple resources including timber, biomass and carbon yields; wildlife habitat; disturbance risk; aesthetics and more. Statistical and spatial technical expertise, in combination with an extensive knowledge of forestry management practices and forest ecology, allow SIG to deliver comprehensive and practical solutions. In addition, we use growth models that incorporate downscaled global climate model (GCM) scenarios to better predict forest conditions in response to climate change.  Our forest biometrics expertise includes:
 
• Inventory
i.   Efficient design for large programs to small projects
ii.  Evaluations of existing inventory accuracy, efficiency and effects on growth simulation 
     accuracy
iii. Mensurational work on allometric functions, imputation, weight scaling, etc.
 
• Growth Modeling
i.   Long-term modeling of silviculture and stand development including mortality, regeneration
     and local calibration
ii.  Alternatives analysis of silvicultural treatments
iii. Custom model development including climate change impacts, disturbance or rare species
 
 Scheduling and Management Planning
i.   Harvest scheduling under optimization or stand-based
ii.  Constraints due to objectives, contracts, laws and regulations
iii. Yields of timber, habitat, carbon and biomass
iv.  Economic outputs of cost, revenues, cash flow and NPV
 
• Software and Statistical Support
i.   Custom development and testing of software modules or programs in R, Visual Basic, Fortran,
     C, SQL, MS Access and Python
ii.  Custom parametric and non-parametric regression and analysis including spatial statistical
     analysis

Resource Assessments

::: SIG’s experience at assessing the values of current and future forest resources allows for comprehensive comparisons among forest management options.

• Biomass Utilization: Biomass Fuels Availability and Fuels Procurement Assessments. SIG has delivered comprehensive life cycle assessments of woody biomass material sourced from forest management activities, forest products manufacturing, waste wood recovery, and agricultural operations.  Assessments have included long-term forest growth projections, fuel availability and pricing, fuel characterization, time of year availability, cost of harvesting, collection, processing and transport, transportation network analysis, and risk assessment addressing long-term availability.  Following delivery of a biomass fuels availability assessment, SIG generates a fuels procurement plan.  These plans provide data in support of a procurement strategy to secure fuels that meet certain specifications and project requirements.  Fuel characteristics, delivered costs, and temporal and spatial availability are key considerations.

• Fuels Treatments: SIG’s interdisciplinary staff is involved in a variety of scientific studies aimed at quantifying the greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions resulting from fuels management treatments.  By reducing hazardous fuels and improving forest health, forestlands’ long-term capacity to sequester carbon and reduce atmospheric GHGs can be enhanced.  Using a total accounting framework for entire landscapes, SIG is modeling the stock and flow of carbon and ecosystem services under a variety of fire hazards and management scenarios. For more information, refer to our “Natural Hazards” program details.

• Life Cycle Assessments of Forest Biomass, Forest Products, Transportation and GHG accounting: Using a total system analysis approach, SIG has compared biomass energy and forest products to other forms of energy production and building materials. Our science team can compare GHG benefits of biomass to the more prevalent electricity generation by natural gas or the total suite of generation encompassed by the California grid. SIG continues to develop LCA approaches and apply them to consulting and research projects throughout the western U.S., Canada, Europe and other strategic countries interested in performing these life cycle assessments.

Mitigation Support

::: Many project requirements include the development of plans to mitigate the effects on natural resources (through CEQA or NEPA).  Now with carbon and GHG accounting, mitigation planning for climate change can be integral to the success of a project.  Widely recognized for our expertise in these areas, SIG specializes in the analysis and integration of myriad planning, natural resource, and design components critical to successful carbon sequestration projects.  Our forest carbon staff is highly experienced in plan preparation and administration.  Our scientists have the experience and knowledge to provide the components necessary to meet a client’s specific needs and improve the likelihood that mitigation, afforestation, and restoration will succeed.  As a result, SIG provides their clients with accurate and credible carbon mitigation support services without generating unnecessary costs.

Investor Support

::: SIG has a proven track record of working directly with investors on a wide variety of revenue streams, including carbon, water, ecosystem services, wood products and biomass energy. SIG develops and provides financial modeling to evaluate proposed forest carbon projects, as well as existing and developing low-carbon technologies. SIG’s financial models enable identification of economic and environmental risk issues, and provide an assessment of the commercial viability in displacing existing carbon-intensive pathways with new products or services that demonstrate the GHG benefits of replacing these existing paths with low-carbon alternatives. SIG’s financial assessments and due diligence are designed to enhance the viability of business proposals, and assist forest carbon and technology developers in commercializing their sequestration opportunities and/or low carbon alternatives and pathways. Our forest carbon and low-carbon market assessment services include: 1) analyses of competition; 2) determination of carbon pricing needed for meeting investor goals (including hurdle rates); 3) evaluation of existing markets and windows of opportunity; and 4) forecasting of competition and/or alignment with alternative revenue streams (forest products, development pressures, etc.) so that investors can optimize returns on investment (ROI).

Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+)

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SIG shares the view of many similar research organizations in promoting the role of forests in climate change mitigation. One component or key goal to the future of our forests is to halve deforestation and degradation by 2020. While we agree that this is an ambitious goal, meeting it would avoid 6 million hectares of forest destruction and 3 billion tons of CO2 emissions annually – a significant contribution to the estimated 17 billion tons of reductions needed annually from all sectors by 2020 to limit global warming to 2° C.  Achieving this goal will require an integrated set of actions to fundamentally change the behavior of various actors who are driving forest destruction.  Using remote sensing, modeling, and field techniques, SIG monitors and assesses global opportunities for REDD+. SIG is interested in developing robust carbon accounting methodologies, thereby providing important lessons for how to tackle issues related to baselines and additionality, MRV systems, leakage and permanence at sub-national and national scales. Specific areas of interest are baseline emissions modeling, stand growth dynamics and disturbance risk to forested regions under current and projected climate conditions.

Protocol Development and Review

::: Since SIG has positioned itself at the forefront of carbon assessment, verification and monitoring, our forest carbon science staff is often called up to comment and refine existing protocols under one of the standards. Because our science team serves on committees for protocol development and refinement, we are well-versed in providing guidance on the differences among carbon standards/registries.  We are actively involved in developing new methodologies, and revising existing ones, to verify emissions reductions achieved from multiple strategies across jurisdictional scales for submission to Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS), American Carbon Registry (ACR), Climate Action Reserve (CAR) and Climate, Community and Biodiversity Standard (CCB) for approval. We are also able to make educated technical policy briefs on various GHG reduction programs and proposed legislation.