California Institute for Energy and Environment (CIEE)

This report summarizes efforts by Winrock International and the WESTCARB Fire Panel to develop a methodology for estimating greenhouse gas (GHG) benefits of project activities to reduce emissions from wildland fires in low to mid elevation mixed conifer forests. These efforts focused on low to mid elevation mixed conifer forests and included a conceptual framework developed to aid in determining the full impacts of hazardous fuels treatments, four workshops with carbon and fire experts, numerous consultant activities, and field measurements of hazardous fuels treatments in Shasta County, California and Lake County, Oregon. The task of developing a rigorous methodology to quantify baseline emissions from wildland fires and emission reductions attributable to fuel reduction is complex due to the methodological challenges of modeling fire behavior and emissions, the relatively low annual risk of fire for any given potential project location, and the emissions resulting from fuels treatments. Given (current hazardous fuel removal technologies and) the low probability of fire on any given acre in any given year, hazardous fuel reduction treatments in the forest types addressed in this report cannot directly generate offsets. However, careful design of fuel treatments building from the methodology employed in this analysis can minimize risks to lives and property while also minimizing emissions. Integration of fire and an avoided emissions framework with other ecosystem services will go even further toward a sustainable approach to ecosystem management.