Natural Climate Solutions are strategies for addressing climate change that tap into the power of America’s farms, forests, grasslands, coastal wetlands, and urban areas to address climate change. A national survey recently conducted by U.S. Nature4Climate reveals that 92% of American voters support expanding these practices through laws and public funding. Support is strong across political affiliations and other major demographic groups.
While few issues garner the degree of broad, bi-partisan support, there is still significant room to strengthen the intensity of support, as our survey found that only 47% of voters strongly support expanding implementation of these strategies. In an age with increasing demands on public attention, it is vital to convert the large pool of passive supporters of Natural Climate Solutions into champions who are willing to take action to ensure widespread implementation. Fortunately, USN4C’s survey provides guidance on how to turn Natural Climate Solutions supporters into Natural Climate Solutions champions. Three arguments resonated strongly among voters:
Natural Climate Solutions Provide Additional Benefits for People and the Environment
Natural Climate Solutions are win-win solutions that don’t just help tackle climate change, they also help restore wildlife habitat, improve our drinking water, protect communities from storms and floods, and improve soil health, making our farms more productive.
Natural Climate Solutions Improve Resilience to Fire and Extreme Weather, Saving Lives and Money
Natural Climate Solutions help us get a handle on carbon pollution while also making our communities, forests, and farms more resistant to wildfire, drought and flooding. In fact, for every $1 invested in reducing our risk from disasters before they occur, we save roughly $6 in disaster response – saving lives and preventing billions of dollars in damage.
Natural Climate Solutions preserve the places that make America special for future generations
When addressing climate change, one of our most important Natural Climate Solutions is preserving the forests, coastal wetlands, and grasslands that make America beautiful. In addition to storing carbon, these places also provide habitat for wildlife and opportunities for hunting, fishing, hiking, and simply enjoying nature. We owe it to future generations to protect these lands.
In summary, when it comes to making the case for Natural Climate Solutions, the American public is largely supportive. These three messages can help deepen support for tapping into the full potential of our natural and working lands to address climate change.
After facing setbacks from a flood and poor crop yields, Scotty Herriman who farms 2,000 acres in Oklahoma, learned about the benefits of soil health practices and received support through USDA’s NRCS to transition away from conventional methods.
The soil health methods he implemented, including no-till, cover crops, and enhanced nutrient management, led to increased yields, reduced erosion, and lowered greenhouse gas emissions:
A partial budget analysis showed that soil health practices increased Scotty’s net income by $4 per acre annually, with a 7% ROI. He also experienced yield increases, boosting soybean yield by 5 bushels per acre and corn yield by 40 bushels per acre.
Various programs, like EQIP and CIG, support farmers in adopting soil health practices, improving financial and environmental outcomes. Federal Farm Bill programs and initiatives like the Partnership for Climate-Smart Commodities can further promote these practices.
Scotty’s experience emphasizes the learning curve and importance of sharing success stories to encourage informed conservation decisions in agriculture.
Scotty Herriman farms 2,000 acres near South Coffeyville, Oklahoma, with his wife, Jo. They grow corn and soybeans, and occasionally grain sorghum (milo) and wheat. After a historic flood in 2007 resulted in only 13 profitable acres, followed by a poor crop yield in 2008, it became clear to Scotty that he needed to change the way he farms his land.
Scotty heard about other farmers who had had success with practices like no-till farming – which is planting agricultural crops without any plowing or tillage. A visit to his local USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) field office in 2010 finally changed Scotty’s mind. He learned he could use assistance through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) to switch to no-till. Just like that, decades of conventional farming went out the window. “We switched overnight,” Scotty said.
In recent years, more and more farmers in the U.S. have been adopting farming practices that provide multiple benefits for the farmer, the environment, and our climate. These strategies go by many names – regenerative agriculture, climate-smart agriculture, conservation agriculture – but they all refer to a suite of farming practices that improve soil health. This, in turn, sustainably improves farm productivity, enhances the resilience of land to drought and flooding, and provides a number of environmental benefits, including cleaner drinking water, increased carbon storage in the soil, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions.
BENEFITS OF NO-TILL FARMING
“No-till farming protects the soil from excessive erosion, reduces soil aeration from tillage, allows organic matter to accumulate and improves the overall health of the soil. Switching can also help you reduce input costs and, thus, boost your bottom-line profits. It is part of an integrated effort to conserve the nation’s natural resources.”
From Adversity to Achievement: Scotty’s Experience with No-till, Cover Crops, and Enhanced Nutrient Management
In 2010 Scotty adopted no-till soybeans and reduced-tillage corn. While this has led to some increased use of herbicide, adopting no-till has saved Scotty time, reduced equipment maintenance costs, and has led to significant positive changes in his soil. For example, Scotty sees that root channels from prior year plantings run deeper into the ground, which improve soil infiltration and create a more stable and resilient soil structure. Scotty has also seen higher quality crop stands that are less stressed by drought and pests due to increased crop vigor.
With the goal of reducing herbicide use, Scotty adopted cover crops, primarily cereal rye in 2016. Cover crops are sown when a primary cash crop is not present, as an alternative to fallow, or bare soil. Cover crops have been shown to slow soil erosion, improve soil health, enhance the availability of water, smother weeds, and help control pests. They also increase the total amount of photosynthesis that takes carbon from the atmosphere, which can increase the amount of carbon added to the soil every year. While planting cover crops has led to only a slight reduction in Scotty’s herbicide use, he has observed that they leave a mulch layer an inch thick on top of his soil, which he believes has increased soil moisture retention – making his land more resilient to drought. “A couple of years ago I noticed things started to come on stronger,” Scotty says. “I won’t say we were penalized those first 2 years, but it was after that 2-year period the yields were coming on strong. Weather patterns were the same, water intake was good, so after just a little period of questions and small doubts, that 3-year window everyone talked about opened up and crops have been improving ever since.”
In 2016, Scotty also modified his nutrient management practices. He now ensures that the amount of nitrogen applied to agricultural fields by synthetic fertilizers does not exceed the amount the plants can absorb and minimizes unwanted losses by switching from dry to a split application of a liquid fertilizer blend. This reduces excess nitrogen from being released to the atmosphere in the form of nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide. It also prevents nutrient pollution in rivers and lakes, which can reduce the quality of drinking water and cause algal blooms and dead zones. While his nutrient costs increased, the modeled estimates for losses of nitrogen and phosphorus on his land dropped substantially as a result of the no-till, cover crops, and nutrient management practices Scotty employed.
Soil Health Management Benefits Farmers, Climate, and the Environment
To better understand the financial impact implementation of these practices had on Scotty’s operation, American Farmland Trust and the Oklahoma Conservation Commission worked together to conduct partial budget analysis to analyze the marginal benefits and costs of adopting cover crops, strip-till corn, no-till soybeans, and nutrient management changes on the 350 acres of Scotty Herriman’s 2,000-acre farm where all of the practices were adopted. The analysis used a combination of published machinery and material cost estimates and farmer-provided data to estimate the cost of operations, on average, before and after soil health practice adoption. The analysis was limited to only those income and cost variables affected by the adoption of these practices.
The results of the study highlighted the win-win nature of these solutions – they can be good for farmers, and are certainly beneficial for our climate and the environment as a whole. The analysis found that Scotty’s net income increased by $4 per acre per year after he adopted the soil health practices described earlier, for a net increase of $1,402 a year – a 7% return on investment. Scotty attributes 25% of his corn and soybean yield increases since 2010 to his adoption of soil health practices, thus accounting for a benefit of $28 per acre each year. Scotty’s average annual soybean yield has increased overall by 5 bushels an acre, and his corn yield has increased by 40 bushels an acre. Scotty says he also knows he’ll realize tangible assets of no-till during his farming career. In 2014 he saw 260-bushel dryland corn and he’s hit several years of 200+ bushel corn since switching to no-till. He entered a yield contest and won it four times in 6 years with his dryland no-till corn. This is what he shares with critics, that he implemented no-till and it works.
While Scotty’s herbicide costs have increased by $7 per acre per year, his machinery costs have decreased by $32 per acre per year since his adoption of no-till and strip-till thanks to fewer mechanical issues, less overall machinery maintenance costs, less fuel needed, and increased time savings.
As a result of the combined soil health practices, erosion has decreased by 1 ton per acre per year, as estimated by USDA’s Nutrient Tracking Tool (NTT), worth $713 per year across the study area based on the $1.18/ton value of soil nutrients no longer running off, and Scotty’s estimated $300 a year in reduced mechanical erosion repair costs. In addition to the economic benefits Scotty has experienced, he has noticed benefits to his soil structure and biota. Scotty has observed less soil compaction, an increase in earthworm activity, and higher levels of soil organic matter.
To estimate the water quality and climate benefits of these soil health practices, researchers used NTT and COMET-Farm tools on a 60-acre, representative field. Scotty’s use of cover crops, strip-till, no-till, and nutrient management reduced nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment losses by 73%, 22%, and 86%, respectively, as estimated by NTT. Further, his combined soil health practices resulted in a 54% reduction in total greenhouse gas emissions as estimated by the COMET-Farm Tool, corresponding to taking 3.9 cars off the road. While this may seem like a small number, there is enormous potential for scaling these benefits – especially considering the 396 million acres of cropland in the U.S.
USDA Cropland (USDA & Esri 2022). Feature layer by SEGS_GPO, licensed under the US EPA Data Licensing Agreement for publicuse.
Support is Available to Help Farmers Like Scotty Herriman Adopt Soil Health Management Practices
A number of federal and state programs are available to help farmers like Scotty Herriman adopt soil health practices – many of which are supported by the federal Farm Bill. To aid his transition to no-till, Scotty received support through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), which provides financial and technical assistance to farmers to help them integrate conservation farming practices into their lands. When Scotty planted cover crops on his land, he partnered with Oklahoma State University, the Oklahoma Conservation Commission and the NRCS Conservation Innovation Grants Program (CIG), which worked with him to study the influence cover crops had on soybean and corn productivity. Scotty also receives $5 per acre/year from the USDA Risk Management Agency Cover Crop Program to support continued implementation of cover crops. The financial assistance Scotty received from these programs was not factored into the cost-benefit analysis conducted by American Farmland Trust, indicating the benefits of soil health practices outweigh the costs even without federal assistance.
Farm Bill agriculture programs, coupled with new efforts like the Partnership for Climate-Smart Commodities, can play a key role in scaling up adoption of these practices nationwide – not only by providing financial and technical assistance to farmers, but also supporting the research, data collection, reporting and verification necessary to continue improving our understanding of the benefits of soil health management.
Closing Thoughts
Herriman Farms has benefited from soil health practices, but Scotty recognizes the challenges that come with getting started. “It’s a learning curve. Learning how to work in harmony with the weather, resisting the urge to break out the plow when things didn’t go exactly how I envisioned, and timing the planting windows to get the most benefit of moisture while staying ahead of weeds,” he said to emphasize the effort required to forge the right soil health management system. Scotty believes in the importance of sharing his story to help others make informed decisions about conservation practices. He celebrates his healthy soil and looks forward to the lasting benefits of his hard work.
• Prices used: Corn: $4.30/bu, Soybeans: $11.15/bu (USDA NASS, Feb 2021, Crop Values: 2020 Summary); Nitrogen: $0.34/lb, Phosphate: $0.39/lb (ISU Extension and Outreach, Jan 2021, Ag Decision Maker: Estimated Costs of Crop Production in Iowa).
• Value of decreased erosion ($1.18/ton) is based on estimated N & P content of the soil (2.32 lbs N/ton, 1 lb P/ton) and fertilizer prices (USDA NRCS, May 2010, Final Benefit-Cost Analysis for the EQIP) and Scotty’s estimate of reduced mechanical erosion repair costs.
• Return on Investment is the ratio of Annual Total Change in Net Income to Annual Total Decreased Net Income, as a percent.
This material is based on work supported by a USDA NRCS CIG grant (NR183A750008G008) and a grant from the Oklahoma Conservation Commission. Scotty received $5/ac/yr through the USDA Risk Management Agency Cover Crop Program (2016–present). This is not included in the analysis because cost-share is temporary and not received by all.
New polling conducted by U.S. Nature4Climate reveals exceptionally strong support among U.S. voters for expanded implementation of Natural Climate Solutions. Indeed, few issues generate this level of bi-partisan support.
Our poll indicates that voters attach a high-level of importance to implementing specific Natural Climate SolutionsNatural Climate Solutions are a subset of nature-based solutions land or water-based climate mitigation strategies. This includes conservation, restoration and improved land management actions that increase carbon storage or avoid greenhouse gas emissions in landscapes and wetlands across the globe, while also addressing other societal and biodiversity challenges. strategies. They also overwhelmingly support a number of approaches for providing assistance to farmers and forest landowners who adopt climate-smart management practices on their land, and supporting conservation and restoration activities in forests, grasslands, and coastal wetlands. While Natural Climate Solutions cannot solve climate change alone, and must necessarily be complemented by efforts to reduce fossil fuel emissions, this poll demonstrates that American voters believe nature should play an important role in our efforts to address the climate crisis.
Breaking Down the Numbers: Natural Climate Solutions Supported by 92% of Voters
Poll Question:
“Natural Climate Solutions are actions that reduce emissions and increase carbon storage in forests, farms, grasslands and wetlands. Practices that could be included are actions like…
Encouraging farming techniques that retain carbon in the soil, such as planting cover crops;
Conserving and replanting forests;
Conserving and restoring coastal wetlands; and
Reducing the loss of natural areas, planting trees, and providing parks in communities.
Efforts to expand these practices could be supported by laws and public funding approved at the federal, state, and local levels.
Does that sound like something you would support or oppose?”
In our May 2023 national online survey of 1,000 registered voters, conducted by the bipartisan team of FM3 Research and New Bridge Strategies, voters were read a brief description of Natural Climate Solutions (at left), and asked whether they would support or oppose expanding implementation of these practices through laws and public funding at the federal, state, and local level. Overall, an overwhelming 92% majority of voters supported expansion of Natural Climate Solutions, with only 8% opposed. Support was also strong across party: 95% of Democrats, 95% of independents, and 86% of Republicans support expanding Natural Climate Solutions implementation. Moreover, in rural areas, voters supported Natural Climate Solutions expansion by an 89% to 11% margin. Even among the 17% of voters nationwide who do not believe climate change is happening, a large 77% majority support Natural Climate Solutions.
From Urban Tree Planting to Climate-Smart Farming, a Wide Range of Natural Climate Solutions are Important to Voters
Voters were read a list of potential elements of a proposal to invest in natural climate solutions, and were told that “each of these actions either reduce emissions or store carbon;” most of the specific items also cited additional environmental and economic benefits. As the chart below illustrates, large bi-partisan majorities believe that a wide range of practices – including natural land protection, tree planting, urban forestry, wildfire management, coastal restoration, grassland restoration, and various climate-smart agriculture and forestry practices – are very important actions that can be taken to invest in Natural Climate Solutions. The upshot: Policy and corporate decision-makers have a wide menu of options for implementing Natural Climate Solutions.
Policies to Scale Up Natural Climate Solutions are Popular with Voters
The 2023 Farm Bill presents an opportunity for federal policy makers to support many Natural Climate Solutions practices by providing financial and technical assistance to farmers and forest landowners. As indicated in the chart below, our poll reveals broad, bi-partisan support for a number of proposals for scaling up implementation of Natural Climate Solutions that could be addressed in the Farm Bill. This suggests a wide range of flexibility in charting a path forward for expansion of Natural Climate Solutions, and little political risk in supporting these policy options.
Conclusion: The Broad Support For Natural Climate Solutions Presents An Opportunity For Bi-Partisan Climate Action
Our research shows that voters believe that many of America’s diverse array of landscapes – from farms, to forests, to cities, grasslands, and coastlands – should be incorporated into these efforts. Voters also grant policy makers a wide degree of flexibility for charting a path forward on Natural Climate Solutions by virtue of their overwhelming support for a wide range of strategies, suggesting substantial room for bi-partisan collaboration and compromise.
December closed one of the most productive U.S. federal legislative sessions for nature ever. By the time the 117th U.S. Congress gaveled out, it had advanced the country’s largest investment in climate action; a massive bipartisan infrastructure package that heavily invests in nature, clean energy, and climate resilience; and a host of bills related to water infrastructure, natural climate solutions, coastal and ocean resilience.
Any one of these advances would have been impressive in itself, but to do them all in just two years shows how far we’ve come in making conservation and climate action central and urgent policy issues in the United States. Some of these victories passed on party-line votes, but the vast majority of measures passed last Congress had strong bipartisan support.
For The Nature Conservancy (TNC), it has never been about who controls Congress or the White House that defines our policy objectives, but where the science tells us we must act. As the 118th Congress settles in, there are several opportunities to build on the progress of the last Congress and continue bipartisan support for nature.
Arguably the most significant opportunity is the next Farm Bill. The bill has the biggest impact on private land conservation in America, funding programs and practices that invest in U.S. croplands, rangelands, forests, and pasturelands. It is the best opportunity to boost practices that benefit both the health of these landscapes and the producers and communities that depend on them.
Another opportunity for bipartisan cooperation is a bill that is critical to reversing the country’s dwindling biodiversity. The bipartisan Recovering America’s Wildlife Act (RAWA) nearly made it over the finish line last year, and would be the most consequential bill for U.S. wildlife conservation since the Endangered Species Act. RAWA would invest $1.4 billion a year in state and tribal wildlife agencies’ time-tested efforts to help wildlife species at risk of extinction recover.
For much of the last Congress, the momentum was behind the act, and we still see significant opportunity for Congress to keep that momentum in the new Congress. With a third of U.S. wildlife species at risk of extinction – which in turn endangers our communities at large – Washington has no more time to waste.
It may also be necessary for lawmakers to conserve a place unlike anywhere on Earth. Alaska’s Bristol Bay is a pristine watershed that supports the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery and is home to 31 federally recognized Tribes that have lived and sustained themselves there for generations. It is also threatened by what would be one of the largest open pit mines in the world.
For over two decades, TNC has worked in partnership with individuals and regional organizations in Bristol Bay to analyze the Pebble Mine’s potential impact and working toward greater protections for the lands and waters of the region. While the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last week finalized its decision to prohibit and restrict the use of certain waters in Bristol Bay necessary for developing Pebble Mine, there may be a need for additional protections to ensure the broader watershed can continue to be protected in the years to come.
Ensuring the Success of Last Session’s Wins
As much as it is essential to advance new policies, it is just as important to preserve those wins for nature already in place. The 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law and last year’s climate bill are two of the most significant steps the United States has ever taken to preserve nature and humanity’s future. Now that they are both law, these investments must be preserved and effectively used to enhance resilience in the face of growing climate impacts and mitigate climate change. Doing so will ensure the best possible outcomes for people and nature.
Science such as our Resilient Lands Mapping Tool and Power of Place-West can help guide that work, and forthcoming policy research from TNC and partners on issues ranging from addressing U.S. wildfire risks to curbing U.S. biodiversity loss can serve as a springboard for further bipartisan cooperation.
The enormous legislative accomplishments of the last two years were not anomalies but just the latest additions to the incredible progress Congress has made in recent years on climate, resilience, clean energy, and conservation.
Many of those past victories were made during times of divided government. We know this Congress can do the same.
Former U. S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is a heart and lung transplant surgeon and global board chair of The Nature Conservancy, one of the most wide-reaching conservation organizations in the world with over 400 scientists across 76 countries.
At the time of publishing this article, Darci Vetter was the Global Head, Policy and Government Relations for The Nature Conservancy. She led TNC’s work to expand what is possible in conservation through transformational policies that achieve equitable climate and conservation outcomes for people and nature. She is an expert in international trade, agriculture and environmental policy.
This article was originally published by The Nature Conservancy on February 7th, 2023.
Explore Natural Climate Solutions in action across the United States in U.S. Nature4Climate’s Building Ambition Through Action page.
After a hard-fought mid-term election, divided government once again reigns in Washington, DC. In this era of heightened partisanship, the specter of gridlock has re-emerged as Democrats and Republicans stake out divergent positions across a whole host of issues, including climate change. Will these divisions in the Congress constitute a requiem for climate action for the coming two years? Or will the two parties succeed in harmonizing their agendas, developing a new path forward on climate change?
Broad Bipartisan Support
A wide, brightly lit road to bipartisan climate action beckons if the two parties are ready to put on their boogie shoes and follow the lead of a growing number of Americans. Natural Climate Solutions. A recent poll of 1,000 registered voters commissioned by U.S. Nature4Climate revealed overwhelming support for the expansion of Natural Climate Solutions to address climate change, with 86% supporting expansion and only 14% opposing it. Support was strong across party lines, with 93% of Democrats, 81% of independents, and 81% of Republicans supporting the expansion of practices like conserving and replanting forests, regenerative agriculture practices, and reducing the loss of natural areas. Long story short, there is very little political risk in supporting these climate strategies.
The strong support is remarkable, especially considering our poll didn’t share some of the most compelling reasons to support Natural Climate Solutions. In addition to addressing climate change, these solutions create jobs and provide new sources of income for many farmers and forest landowners. They can lower heating and cooling bills in urban communities. And provide increased habitat for wildlife. And they help improve water quality. And help strengthen resilience in urban communities, rural farmland, and coastal areas to all kinds of extreme weather. Even without hearing some of our greatest hits, voters are flocking to download the album.
Environmental Interests & Business Interests Align
But wait a minute. Polling often frames economic growth and environmental action as a zero-sum game – where leaders must choose one or the other. Setting aside that this is a false choice – it is possible to do both at the same time – it is noteworthy that organizations representing both environmental and business interests favor the expansion of Natural Climate Solutions. It may not be surprising that The Nature Conservancy, Environmental Defense Fund, and Natural Resources Defense Council have all embraced Natural Climate Solutions as an important climate change strategy. But so has the business community. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce supported the recently passed Growing Climate Solutions Act, which makes it easier for farmers and forest owners to participate in carbon markets. And Ceres, a network of investors, companies, and non-profits, is working to help corporations integrate Natural Climate Solutions into their climate commitments.
It is true that a Natural Climate Solutions bill written by Democrats may prioritize different strategies and funding mechanisms than one written by Republicans. But compromise is possible. And upcoming legislation like the Farm Bill offers an opportunity for both parties to strengthen existing programs, while supporting innovative approaches that put our lands and waters to work in the effort to tackle climate change. It has happened before and it can happen again.
Natural Climate Solutions are only part a comprehensive strategy to address climate change. They can complement necessary efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the energy and transportation sectors. A climate change strategy that featured ONLY Natural Climate Solutions wouldn’t work – it’d be kind of like trying to perform a rock concert with only a bass guitar. On the other hand, rock music generally sounds better with a bass in the mix (White Stripes notwithstanding). Likewise, a climate change strategy that includes Natural Climate Solutions is more effective than one that does not. The crowd-pleasing encore to this metaphorical climate change concert is that not only are many of these strategies ready to go now, but they can also help do something about the greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere. While Natural Climate Solutions can’t single-handedly solve climate change, they do provide an opportunity to help break through the partisan noise and add a popular new song to our climate action playlist.
Seeking to chart a path forward on climate policy that taps into the power of America’s natural and working lands?
The Decision-Makers Guide to Natural Climate Solutions Science provides an opportunity for experts to discuss and debate the uncertainties in forest, agriculture and coastal wetland science that are limiting our efforts to implement climate-smart strategies. Click below for more.
Unless you are a snorkeler or a scuba diver, it is likely you may have never heard of Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. Yet for two weeks, this dusty seaside resort town served as the heart of the climate action universe. Government officials and activists from all over the world converged for COP27 – a yearly rite of passage in global efforts to act collectively to prevent a climate catastrophe that is already offering the world a disturbing preview of a challenging future.
As U.S. Nature4Climate’s Program Director, I spent a week at COP27. This was my first COP, and walking into the Convention Center for the first time, I had no idea what to expect. For most of my time at the conference, I was stationed in the Nature Zone Pavilion – a collaborative effort, led by Nature4Climate and sponsored by a diverse array of partners – including The Nature Conservancy, American Forests, Environmental Defense Fund, Conservation International, Pew Charitable Trusts, and World Resources Institute. The pavilion served to highlight the powerful role that nature can play in mitigating climate change.
Buzzing With Energy and Activity
The Nature Zone was located in the farthest corner of the conference center’s farthest building, and walking there was like taking a trip around the world in 10 minutes. The Children and Youth Pavilion was bursting at the seams, not just with people, but with the passion of a generation that knows it will be paying the bill if the world fails to take effective action to address climate change. The well-organized U.S. Center was also a beehive of activity. If you wanted to catch a congressperson or an undersecretary, this was the place to be. Passing by the Coalition for Rainforest Nations pavilion, I happened upon a crowd during one trip across the conference center. As the audience watched with a mixture of bewilderment and curiosity, we were treated to a unique rap performance – focused on carbon credits.
Populating the pavilions was a diverse ecosystem of people speaking dozens of different languages, hailing from all parts of the world. Activists wearing t-shirts and collecting buttons who were just happy to be there. Students from Harvard, Appalachian State, and Washington University – the next generation of climate leaders. Earnest government staffers scouting locations a day in advance so as not to waste a minute of their principal’s time. Harried pavilion personnel frantically dealing with catering snafus and A/V disasters. Also amongst the crowd? More than a dozen U.S. Nature4Climate coalition members and collaborators, highlighting the important role that Natural Climate Solutions can play in mitigating climate change.
A Wide Path Forward for Natural Climate Solutions
U.S. Nature4Climate was proud to hold a launch event featuring American Forests, the Environmental & Energy Study Institute, the Hispanic Access Foundation, the American Conservation Coalition, and the U.S. Climate Alliance, U.S. Nature4Climate, releasing the results of a survey of 1,000 registered U.S. voters demonstrating overwhelming support (86%) for expanding implementation of Natural Climate Solutions, with Democrats (96%), independents (81%), and Republicans (81%) all supportive by wide margins. These results suggest that, even with a divided government in the U.S., there is a wide path forward for additional investment in Natural Climate Solutions.
Major Announcements for nature
The Nature Conservancy’s (TNC) contingent was everywhere, with CEO Jennifer Morris and Global Policy Head Darci Vetter leading the charge. I suspect that Vetter had a time-turner in her pocket – popping up on panels across the length and breadth of the Conference Center, seemingly simultaneously. TNC highlighted efforts to promote innovative climate financing, such as “Blue Bonds,” helped amplify the role that agriculture can play in addressing climate change, and highlighted the need for a framework that puts nature at the heart of efforts to address both the climate and biodiversity crises.
The Hispanic Access Foundation’s Shanna Edberg launched a new report: 10 Ways Access to Nature Can Bolster Biodiversity, Communities, and Climate, will help policymakers, advocates, and communities identify high-leverage opportunities to invest in efforts that benefit biodiversity, human communities, and while also helping to mitigate climate change.
U.S. Farmers & Ranchers in Action’s (USFRA) Erin Fitzgerald and Marilyn Hershey must have borrowed Darci Vetter’s time-turner, because they were also ubiquitous at COP— discussing sustainable dairy in one pavilion, and promoting the promise of Partnership for Climate-Smart Commodities with USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack at another. USFRA had a mission to highlight the role agriculture can play as a climate solution. Their busy schedule suggests their message was in demand.
To help bridge the partisan divide around climate change, the American Conservation Coalition, in collaboration with TNC, Dream.Org, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the Atlantic Council, led the Building Bridges Summit, a series of fireside chats featuring leaders from the non-profit and corporate sectors working to find common ground on climate solutions. I had the chance to attend part of the summit, and was heartened by the collaborative, solutions-oriented spirit of its attendees.
Providing important context about COP27 to policy makers back home, the Environmental & Energy Study Institute’s (EESI) briefing series, “What Congress Needs to Know About COP27” set the table for this year’s negotiations, while taking a deeper-dive into issues like Natural Climate Solutions, and climate change loss and damage. EESI’s Daniel Bresette and Anna McGinn provided daily updates during COP from Egypt, and a post-COP recap briefing examined what happened at COP and why the negotiations matter to U.S. policy makers.
Attending COP27 was a chaotic experience – so much is happening in so many places at the same time – but it was also a rewarding one. I am proud of our USN4C coalition members who worked exceptionally hard to ensure that Natural Climate Solutions remain at the center of the broader effort to address climate change. While we recognize these solutions alone cannot solve the climate crisis – and must be undertaken in tandem with efforts to decarbonize the energy and transportation sectors – we also recognize they are win-win strategies with numerous additional benefits for people and the environment.
COP27 is over, but the work continues to get this message out.
On its first day in office, the Biden-Harris Administration established a national goal of reaching net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050, with a 2030 milestone of reducing emissions by 50-52 percent below 2005 levels. Achieving these goals will require widespread efforts, first and foremost harnessing the power of nature itself.
Climate measures that harness the power of nature are known as “natural climate solutions.” They include land management, conservation, and restoration practices—particularly of forests, farms, ranches, grasslands and coastal wetlands—that provide climate change mitigation benefits, typically with additional benefits for the environment, the economy, and society.
Natural climate solutions receive miniscule investment considering their potential for climate change mitigation. According to The Nature Conservancy, natural climate solutions can provide up to one-third of the emission reductions needed by 2030 that would allow global temperature increases to remain below 1.5 degrees Celsius as laid out in the Paris Agreement. In February 2022, the Bipartisan Policy Center published a report which urges Congress to massively increase Department of Agriculture funding (“up to a doubling of current budgets”) for key programs to bolster natural climate solutions.
U.S. Nature4Climate (USN4C), a non-profit and non-partisan coalition of conservation, environmental, and sustainable business organizations, recently unveiled their “Decision-Makers Guide to Natural Climate Solutions” to address the disconnect between the limited funding going towards natural climate solutions and their vast potential impact. The Guide is designed to ensure a clear path forward for the effective planning and implementation of natural climate solutions nationwide.
According to Nathan Henry, program manager at USN4C, “We identified the need for the Decision-Makers Guide last year out of a recognition that there are many individuals in government, business, and academia who are strongly committed to solving the climate crisis, but who are either unfamiliar with Natural Climate Solutions, or don’t have time to navigate the vast amount of information highlighting their benefits and the actions necessary to support their implementation.”
The Guide was launched on February 28 of this year—the same day that the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a major report on the vulnerability of human societies and natural ecosystems to climate change and on possible adaptation measures. USN4C’s Decision-Makers Guide is a fitting companion to the IPCC report, which also highlights the powerful impact that healthy natural habitats can have in addressing the climate crisis, but focuses on the benefits for adaptation rather than mitigation.
Henry stated that “while we tend to lead with the climate mitigation potential of these strategies, part of the appeal of Natural Climate Solutions is the crucial role they can play in solving a wide array of additional problems.” Natural climate solutions often produce additional outcomes that are distinctly positive, especially for climate adaptation and resilience. “For example, coastal restoration activities not only sequester carbon, but also protect biodiversity and improve the resilience of coastal communities to flooding,” explained Henry. “Regenerative agriculture practices store carbon, but also increase land productivity and help make soils more resilient to drought and floods. Efforts to increase urban tree cover not only sequester carbon, but also help provide communities with relief from extreme heat.”
USN4C is dedicated to making sure that natural systems and working lands are incorporated as much as possible into climate policy and action plans and has been encouraged by some of the policies and programs that have been established since the coalition was launched in 2020. “Over the past few years, federal and state governments have really begun to step up efforts to support implementation of Natural Climate Solutions, through passage of the infrastructure bill and programs like the Partnership for Climate Smart Commodities,” said Henry. Even with this recent progress, however, much more is urgently needed. That is where the Guide comes in.
Individuals from institutions of all types, including governmental, corporate, agricultural, academic, or non-profit, can use the guide to identify their role in advancing more widespread adoption of natural climate solutions. For those in need of background information about the science of natural climate solutions and the ample benefits they deliver, the guide has a section titled “Science for Decision-Makers” that covers strategies for forests, agriculture, and blue carbon (or aquatic ecosystems). On this page, USN4C has compiled an extensive selection of resources from respected organizations—peer-reviewed studies are paired with various articles, infographics, and videos that make the research more approachable for non-experts. There is also a glossary to provide key terminology and distinguish between terms that might be incorrectly regarded as synonymous, such as “climate-smart agriculture” versus “regenerative agriculture.”
Once users are equipped with the baseline knowledge they need, they can move on to the “Natural Climate Solutions Toolbox” for a more tailored analysis of the optimal strategies for various landscapes and regions. This section contains a curated list of free and publicly available tools—many of them generated by members of USN4C—including interactive features and strategic data sets designed to help decision-makers pinpoint the natural climate solutions best for them and their communities.
For example, the “U.S. Natural Climate Solutions Mapper” allows the user to quantify the maximum carbon mitigation potential of 11 different “pathways” (such as reforestation or grassland restoration) in their state based on various price points. Another feature of the mapper shows how states rank by climate change mitigation potential and contribution relative to the U.S. national level. The top five states with the highest overall mitigation potential are Texas, Iowa, South Dakota, Kansas, and Missouri. This tool is an ideal starting point for those seeking guidance on the most impactful and cost-effective natural climate solutions for their state.
More research is needed to fully understand the climate mitigation potential of certain types of natural climate solutions like fire management and no-till agriculture. “We recognize that the science behind some Natural Climate Solutions strategies is still evolving, so we provided a forum for people to hear diverse perspectives,” said Henry. This forum can be found in the “Discussion and Debate” section of the Decision-Makers Guide.
The Guide is designed to continue growing at the same pace as the emerging science. Henry explained, “This resource is not meant to be read like a book that is only read once. We plan to manage the guide as a living resource that will evolve over time—as new tools, new science, and innovation on Natural Climate Solutions progress.”
Cover crops are one of the most effective conservation practices that farmers can use to protect soil health. Cover crops slow down soil erosion and help hold water in the ground. Over time, these benefits mean more reliable crop production and more stable yields for farmers—even during times of drought and other kinds of extreme weather that are expected to worsen as a result of climate change. It also means less reliance on costly agricultural inputs that adds up to more savings for farmers. That’s why rapidly expanding the use of cover crops is one of our top priorities at AFT.
We were glad to see the USDA sharing this focus when they introduced the Pandemic Cover Crop Program (PCCP) during the 2021 crop year.
PCCP works by providing farmers with a $5/acre discount on the cost of their crop insurance premiums when they also plant cover crops on their fields. Sign-up is easy, farmers just need to certify the cover crops they plant with the Farm Service Agency (FSA). Once that is done, no other time intensive or difficult application is needed. FSA sends the information over to the Risk Management Agency (RMA) that then applies the discount before invoices go out to farmers later during the growing season.
With such a simple program, the question is likely to be asked: just how effective can it be? AFT dug into the numbers provided through RMA’s Summary of Business reports to find out. The answer, very effective.
The PCCP proved to be every bit as popular as the state cover crop discount programs. In the 2021 crop year, more than 12.2 million acres enrolled in the program, representing all lower 48 states, at a total program cost of $59.4 million.
North Dakota led the way with more than 1.2 million acres receiving the $5/acre discount. In the top 5, they were followed by Texas, Iowa, Indiana and Missouri.
Top 10 PCCP States
State
PCCP Estimated Acres
PCCP Funding/State
% of Total PCCP Funds
North Dakota
1,296,744
$6,315,144
11%
Texas
1,072,182
$5,221,525
9%
Iowa
871,624
$4,224,810
7%
Indiana
860,397
$4,190,131
7%
Missouri
800,282
$3,897,373
7%
Nebraska
683,489
$3,328,590
6%
Minnesota
645,108
$3,141,678
5%
Georgia
536,919
$2,614,795
4%
Ohio
535,826
$2,609,473
4%
Illinois
533,282
$2,597,084
4%
In states with their own programs, enrollment in PCCP far outpaced available funding. Iowa and Illinois saw 4.8 times as many acres submitted to the PCCP as their programs could support. Indiana saw 129 times as many acres submitted to PCCP compared to what could be funded by their program!
PCCP has the potential to stand next to other critical USDA conservation programs to provide a new kind of option for farmers to access resources in the short term for planting cover crops. To put these numbers in context, in 2020, 10.5 million acres were enrolled in EQIP at a cost of $1.8 billion, while 6.4 million were enrolled in CSP at a cost of $2.2 billion and 21.9 million were enrolled in CRP programs at a cost of $1.8 billion.
While PCCP is no replacement for these programs, it serves as a good compliment. That’s especially true for those experimenting with cover crops for the first time or those who are no longer eligible to participate in these other programs but who could still use a little financial support to keep their fields planted in cover crops.
Investment for all of these programs needs to be boosted in the next farm bill to get to where we need to go. If the PCCP is extended for a third year or beyond, it can serve as a new kind of option at a modest cost
While this is just one year of program data, it tells us that it’s possible to put together a simple yet very effective program to help farmers plant cover crops in a very short period of time. If program options like the PCCP continue to be offered, we expect to see the total enrollment numbers continue to climb, and, with that, more stable and environmentally sound farming operations.
USDA offered the PCCP again in 2022. We’ll be watching for those numbers to come in over the next few months.
To learn more about the important role cover crops and other regenerative agriculture strategies can play in addressing climate change, visit USN4C’s Decision-Makers Guide to Natural Climate Solutions.
It doesn’t take a crystal ball to see: we’re in for another explosive wildfire season across the western U.S. Climate change has been baking our forests tinder dry for years, and with temperatures climbing and summer on our doorstep, we’re practically guaranteed another year of devastation. But that doesn’t mean all hope is lost.
This year, as in recent years, we’re sure to see millions more acres burned compared to fire seasons just a few decades ago. And much of that land will be so scorched that trees won’t regrow if we don’t plant them. One response to this crisis must be to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that are driving climate change and killing our forests. But the future of our western forests will also hinge on this: How quickly we can regrow millions of burned over acres with climate-resilient forests able to thrive in a hotter and drier world?
Climate-adapted reforestation will do more than just save forests — it will also help save lives and property, too. That’s because planting climate-resilient forests is a crucial opportunity to get ahead of escalating wildfire threats in our western communities. The need for scaling up forestry actions to increase wildfire resilience, like radically thinning vulnerable forests, could be reduced if we are able to reforest millions of acres of burned areas with the right forest structure and composition to be more wildfire resilient from the start.
To understand the urgency and scale of needed action, we need to appreciate how dramatically climate change is impacting forest health. Climatic shifts have ramped up forest stressors such as drought, pests, disease and catastrophic wildfire. Dried out, sickly forests are just a tinder box waiting for a spark, like parts of the Front Range in Colorado and Sierra Nevada in California that have seen unprecedented forest mortality over the last two decades.
Bark beetles devastated the forest lining the shore of Grand Lake in Colorado. Photo Credit: Don Graham/Flickr
At this moment when our forests are increasingly vulnerable, our expanding human footprint means we are accidentally igniting more fires, creating a verifiable powder keg. This is happening at the same time that climate-fueled increased frequency in dry weather lightning are also more readily sparking fires.
As a result, the extent of western wildfire has doubled in the last few decades, including more expansive and intense “mega-fires”. To give a sense of scale, U.S. wildfire seasons now routinely burn more than 10 million acres per year. In California, roughly one out of every eight acres of forest has burned in the last decade.
It is not just more acres burning, but also how they are burning. Soils can be so scorched from these fires they are made hydrophobic, which means they repel water, and must be remediated to support healthy, native forests again. When mega-fires burn whole landscapes, this can push any seed source from live trees too far away to help support natural regeneration.
By way of example, roughly half of the newly burned areas each year on America’s national forests now require planting in order to recover, a percentage that continues to rise because of the growing extent and severity of today’s wildfires. As a result, the U.S. Forest Service is at least 4 million acres behind on reforesting national forests that need it — roughly 1.2 billion trees. By some estimates, this reforestation backlog on our national forests could be more than 7 million acres, which is an area the size of Maryland.
Wildfire is also happening in places that have historically not burned as often — like our highest mountains. In 2021, wildfire burned clear across the Sierra Nevada mountain range for the first time in recorded history. And then it happened again in the same month. The same phenomenon has occurred in Colorado, where in 2020, wildfires burned across the Continental Divide for the first time. In both cases, this expansion of wildfire impact was made possible by the dramatic drying of high elevation forests that used to be naturally fire-resilient. We must be ready to reforest in forest types and landscape areas that have historically not needed it.
Even our tallest trees are feeling the heat. Experts have long thought that large and old trees of species like the Giant Sequoia were impervious to wildfire due to their thick bark, long distance from ground to branches, and other natural defenses. But climate-fueled wildfires are now putting even these forests at risk, like the Castle Fire in California that killed as many 10,000 Giant Sequoia with trunks of 4-foot diameter or more. That represents a shocking 10 to 15 percent of these trees found worldwide. And while sequoias need fire to reproduce, these fires are reaching such magnitude that the seed bed is wiped out.
With natural processes so profoundly broken by climate change, we need to take a more active role in promoting recovery and fostering climate-resilient forests. For many landscapes across the West, replanting burned areas could save millions of forested acres from potential transition into shrubs and other non-forest cover. To be clear, this does not mean that we must resist these climate-driven shifts in every instance. As I have written before, “pre-storing” forests for climate change will require strategically choosing where to fight back with climate-resilient reforestation, and where we need to allow transition to a different kind of land cover.
Strong science shows millions of burned acres across the West that we can still potentially keep as forest if we make the right moves with rapid reforestation. Losing millions of forested acres unnecessarily would cost America dearly in forgone carbon sequestration, water supply filtration and protection, wood supplies, forest recreation and critical habitat. Of equal concern, un-remediated burned areas are a real hazard to people, triggering mudslides like the ones last year that took out Interstate 70 through Colorado and poured through Flagstaff, Arizona.
So how do we make this happen? There are four interconnected actions we must take to rapidly reforest burned areas with a climate-resilient approach.
Site Assessment and Planning: The first step is to assess each burned area for its own unique context. We can use science to determine which burned areas are positioned to naturally regenerate, sometimes with a little help, and which ones need tree planting. This prioritization must also overlay other considerations: climate threats; which burned areas are most important for water supply protection or are most at risk of mudslides; and which areas have the greatest value for carbon sequestration, habitat, recreation and wood supplies. Additionally, having post-disturbance plans in place will help speed up reforestation response times. Rapid reforestation is important in order to contain competition from shrubs and invasive species.
Align Tree Species and Genetics: For areas that we determine need to be planted, we can use cutting-edge scientific tools and traditional ecological knowledge to assess which tree species and genetic strains are best matched to current and future climate conditions. Then we must work with local seed collectors and tree nurseries to collect the right seeds and grow the right seedlings to match this climate-resilient planting approach, and to ramp up seed and seedling supplies dramatically — doubling or more in most locations. We can set these seedlings up for success by using new growing techniques in nurseries that will better prepare seedlings for harsh conditions in the field like drought.
Climate-Smart Planting: It is not just about selecting the right trees themselves, but also how we plant them. Climate-smart planting must include the right site preparation to address wildfire damage to soils and other site repairs, such as stabilization. We must also match the number and distribution of trees planted on the landscape to our new climate realities, including water availability and fire frequency. This climate-resilient forest structure might look very different from the forest that just burned, such as having fewer trees per acre in chronically drought-stressed landscapes.
Adaptive Management and Research: No matter how well we craft reforestation for climate resilience, we must be ready to learn as we go. We can do this through intensive research and evaluation of replanted areas and management-scale experimentation. But climate change is playing out quickly. We need to be ready to manage reforested areas to adjust their composition and structure based on these observed results, and to use tools like prescribed fire to keep these growing forests maximally aligned for wildfire resilience. For public lands, this means providing the policy guidance, staffing and funding to adaptively manage these reforested lands for climate-resilience.
There’s no dodging it — this will be a huge challenge. We must stand up this new climate-resilient approach to reforestation while simultaneously working at a totally different pace and scale, something akin to the original Civilian Conservation Corps, which planted 3 billion trees over a decade. (No wonder they were known as “Roosevelt’s Tree Army”!) Our climate and communities, both human and natural, need us to step up to this scale of mobilization today.
The good news is that an unprecedented movement is taking shape to advance climate-resilient reforestation, and we can push it over the top with the right actions and investment right now.
The U.S. Forest Service has painted the target by including climate-resilient reforestation of burn scars as a central pillar in its new 10-Year Wildfire Strategy. The agency recognizes that we can significantly reduce the risk of future wildfires if we use the right approach to how we reforest after the last one. The agency and its partners will need to hold each other accountable to make sure that reforestation does not fall by the wayside as efforts intensify on other aspects of the wildfire strategy, such as hazardous fuels reduction.
We can step up together on the science, too. My organization, American Forests, has seen what is possible through the new Camp Fire Reforestation Plan we co-created with federal and state agencies and financial sponsorship from Salesforce. This plan maps out a climate-resilient approach to reforest one of California’s largest burned areas. Now we are partnering with the State of California to apply this climate-informed planning approach to burned areas statewide. As one way to assure we get the right science in the right hands, the USDA Climate Hubs should step forward boldly to help catalyze this kind of scientific assessment for every state’s burned areas. The Climate Hubs are well-poised to get climate-resilient reforestation guidance out to public and private sector reforestation leaders alike.
The good news is that an unprecedented movement is taking shape to advance climate-resilient reforestation, and we can push it over the top with the right actions and investment right now.
Reforestation at the scale needed will take billions of dollars, and Congress has provided the largest funding allocation in history for post-fire reforestation through the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. This includes the REPLANT Act provision, which will permanently increase U.S. Forest Service funding at least four-fold for replanting on America’s 193 million acres of national forest. It also includes additional funding for reforesting burned areas on Department of Interior lands, expanding seed collection and nursery capacity, and more. But alone, this funding won’t be enough. We need any climate package that might emerge from current discussions between the Biden Administration and Congress to include additional funding for post-fire reforestation, including funding to help states, tribes, local governments and private landowners to do their part alongside federal agencies.
Here’s more great news — the federal government is not in this alone on science, funding or implementation of this reforestation push. An unprecedented coalition of state and local governments, tribal leaders, companies, NGOs and civil society groups organized as the U.S. Chapter of 1t.org has stepped up to match federal efforts. More than 90 partners in the U.S. Chapter have already pledged to plant billions of trees and provide billions of dollars in supporting actions such as nursery capacity, workforce development and carbon finance.
The payoff from reforesting our burned areas will be huge for our economy as well as our environment. Reforestation, from seed collection all the way to conducting and monitoring plantings, has been shown to support as many as 27 direct, indirect and induced jobs per million dollars invested. To achieve our goals, we will need many more employees and businesses working at every point on the reforestation pipeline, now and into the future, employing a wide range of skills. This is an economic development opportunity with huge potential impact in rural communities.
Yes, turning millions of burned acres into climate-resilient forests will be a generational challenge that requires unprecedented investment from the public and private sector alike. With so much at stake, I’m betting America is ready. Taking action that will produce healthier, more resilient forests and local economies? That’s something we all can agree on.
