A $25 Million Warning: Oregon Forest Carbon Project Destroyed by Wildfire
This is the story carbon offset critics have been warning about for years. And it just played out in Oregon. The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs launched a forest carbon project in 2015 under California’s cap-and-trade program. It covered 22,000–24,000 acres of tribal forest east of Mount Jefferson. Over several years, it generated $25 million in carbon credit revenue — one of the Tribes’ largest income sources. Then the Lionshead Fire hit in 2020. It scorched over 200,000 acres on and around the reservation. The fire was what foresters call “stand-replacement” — so intense it kills mature trees and resets the growth cycle entirely. The carbon that credits had been sold against? Released back into the atmosphere. ...