Engaging western landowners in climate change mitigation: a guide to carbon-oriented forest and range management and carbon market opportunities

Summary: There are opportunities for forest owners and ranchers to participate in emerging carbon markets and contribute to climate change mitigation through carbon oriented forest and range management activities. These activities often promote sutainable forestry and ranching and broader conservation goals while having the potential to provide a new income stream for landowners. We describe current carbon market opportunities for landowners, discuss common steps they must typically undergo to take advantage of these opportunities, and address related questions. We also provide a synthesis of the existing scientific literature on how different forest and range management practices are thought to contribute to carbon sequestration, including current debates on this topic. The science regarding forestry and carbon seuestration is more advanced and less controversial than that for range management, and more opportunties exist for forest owners to participate in carbon markets than for ranchers. We describe some of the challenges of including landowners in carbon markets, and issues that will likely need to be addressed to develop relevant policy.