The two photos shown below, depicting the Superior Nut Company Carbon-Offest Forest No. 5, were taken exactly 1 ½ years apart: the first was taken October 2007; the second was taken on May 2009. Lining the road are super-fast growing RTT Deglupta hybrids, planted to facilitate early harvest by felling into the road. Farther to [...]
Archive for the ‘Projects & Partners’ Category
15 Apr
Visit us at Conn College this Weekend
Reforest the Tropics will be an exhibitor at Earth Fest!, Connecticut College’s Earth Day celebration, to be held on campus this Saturday, April 18. Stop by for a visit! Connecticut College sponsored a 37-acre forest to offset the CO2 emissions associated with the Crozier-Williams Student Center located on the college’s campus in New London, Connecticut. [...]
28 Mar
Carbon Sequestration in the Home Depot Forest
In 2002, the Home Depot Foundation partnered with Reforest The Tropics to sponsor a demonstration forest to explore the possibilities of balancing US greenhouse gas emissions while producing wood on farms in the tropics. The forest was planted in the Atlantic Zone of Costa Rica on the Las Delicias Farm, which is owned by the [...]
28 Feb
“Permanence” of Carbon in Reforested Tropical Pastures
When it comes to storing carbon in reforested tropical pastures, permanence can be a difficult question. Traditionally, in our experience, farmers who plant trees on tropical pastures will cut them down when they reach commercial sizes, so there is no permanence other than the 20-30 years the trees needed to grow. After that, you start [...]
28 Feb
Measuring Carbon in Managed Forests
We frequently receive inquiries regarding how to measure/calculate the carbon sequestered in regrowing forests. Here is RTT’s approach to addressing this important question: 1) To calculate the carbon being sequestered in a forest, you’ll need a series of permanent sample plots, measured periodically. We use a 1/10-ha plot for each hectare of forest. 2) Measure [...]
21 Feb
RTT Supporters Interviewed on Nature Air Blog
Following up from our earlier post, Nature Air, the world’s first certified carbon neutral airline, further highlighted Reforest the Tropics (RTT) on its blog by describing the history of the RTT applied research program and interviewing corporate and academic participants and observers. The authors described an interview they conducted with Professor Gordon T. Geballe of [...]
14 Feb
Carbon-Offset Forest Thinnings
RTT is developing a model of reforestation that is profitable for the farmer and that sequesters CO2 efficiently for the US sponsor. The farmer earns money from each forest as RTT carries out periodic thinnings—partial harvests that allow the forest to grow healthier and faster. RTT always thins the poorer quality trees to leave [...]
14 Feb
Layer-Cake Design in the Connecticut College Carbon-Offest Forest
Many of Reforest the Tropics’ carbon-offset forests implement an innovative “layer cake” design—i.e., a stratified mixture of planted trees which combines fast growth, potential income, strong long-term carbon storage, and ancillary environmental benefits. The Connecticut College Carbon-Offset Forest is one such forest. Planted by RTT in 1999, the Connecticut College forest was designed to offset [...]
8 Feb
Sustainable Farmer Income From Carbon-Offset Forests
Planting forests to sequester carbon dioxide will work only if the forests are sustainable in the long term—and forests will be sustainable only if they provide an incentive to the farmers on whose land they are planted. Reforest the Tropics (RTT) is developing an innovative model for sustainability in tropical carbon-offset forests. The log shown [...]
7 Feb
RTT Plans Partnership with the Hotchkiss School
The Hotchkiss School is working to offset some of the carbon emissions associated with an upcoming conference, the 2009 Americas Region Round Square Conference. The conference, which focuses on issues of environmental sustainability, will be held at the school from April 20-25, 2009. Hotchkiss is raising funds from conference participants to plant a carbon-offset forest to be managed [...]
