Give forestry plan a chance to grow

Hawaii’s Department of Land and Natural Resources is tasked with managing 1.3 million acres of state lands, beaches and coastal waters as well as 750 miles of coastline. Folded into that vast responsibility is restoration of native forests damaged by logging, animal grazing and invasive species.

Because reforestation efforts can leave the state with a hefty bill, the agency is looking to enter the fledgling carbon credit market as a way to help pay for ecosystem overhaul. Once described by a forestry expert as “more of a riddle to be solved than an easily defined path to a new payday for forestry,” the market is not a sure bet for substantial funds. But DLNR is to be commended for pursuing a potential revenue-generator.

The agency in now in the process of creating a carbon offset pilot project on Maui, through which carbon credits would be sold directly by the state to buyers. There are two types of buyers in the green market: voluntary and regulated. The latter is typically a company (most are in other countries) required to either stay within established greenhouse gas emission caps or secure extra cap space through purchase of credits. DLNR plans to start by soliciting volunteer buyers.

Here’s the pitch: Do you drive a car? Ever travel by plane? Use air-conditioning to cool your home? All are powered by fossil fuels that emit greenhouse gas pollution. Through its credits pilot program, DLNR would provide you with an opportunity to reduce the size of your own carbon footprint by making a financial contribution toward tree-planting.

The pilot involves selling credits for ongoing work on the windswept upper slopes of Haleakala, where DLNR — with public and private partners — has planted 71,000 trees and 45,500 native seedlings over the last three years after installing miles of fencing and removing invasive animals. This area — 43,000 acres of grasslands within the Kahikinui State Forest Reserve and Nakula Natural Area Reserve — was filled with native koa and ohia trees prior to decades of uncontrolled grazing that resulted in erosion, loss of native habitat and reduced watershed viability.

In the green market, one carbon credit is equal to one metric ton of carbon dioxide. Roughly one metric ton of CO2 is released to the atmosphere for every 103 gallons of gasoline used in a car that gets 25 miles to the gallon — that’s slightly more than more than 2,500 miles. The pricing for purchase varies.

A few years ago, the sole Hawaii-based business operating in the carbon credit market, Hawaiian Legacy Hardwoods, estimated that it could earn more than $5 million selling the credits at $40 apiece to voluntary buyers for sequestering 125,000 metric tons of CO2. The Big Isle operation plants koa trees for conservation and harvest. Its voluntary buyers could range from companies pursuing feel-good marketing opportunity to sustainability-minded individuals. Whether the carbon credit market itself will be sustainable in Hawaii is another matter.

The effort is in line with a state law on greenhouse gases, known as Act 234, which requires the state to reduce emissions in the air to 1990 levels by 2020. Signed by then-Gov. Linda Lingle in 2007, Hawaii became the second state to pass such a law, following the lead of California. A regulatory program in place there imposes caps on major greenhouse gas producers, with credit sales funneling money to about 30 forest projects. The addition of regulatory buyers to DLNR’s initiative could net substantial funding for tree-planting.

In a related move, DLNR is now looking for a nonprofit to front an estimated $5.3 million to reforest and maintain about 4,700 acres within Mauna Kea Forest Reserve — and potentially recover as much or more in costs by selling credits.

To get the state’s sales effort underway, the Legislature should support DLNR’s request for $120,000 (Senate Bill 1088), which would pay for market certification. That’s pocket change for state lawmakers, who routinely allocate funds for more expensive (yet less important) studies and initiatives.