Following a record-setting decade for catastrophic forest fires,
a new era may be on the horizon focusing on sequestering carbon
dioxide in trees instead of letting them burn and pollute the
atmosphere. Mike Gaudern of the Oregon Small Woodlands
Association talked with Baker County woodland owners last week.
(Baker City Herald/Ed Merriman) Mike Gaudern, executive director
of the Oregon Small Woodlands Association, delivered that
message to members of the Baker County Private Woodlands
Association during a swing through Eastern Oregon last week.
“Oregon has been picked as one of three pilot project states in
the nation” where cap and trade carbon credit trading will be
made available to woodland owners through the Chicago Climate
Exchange program, which was formed in 2002 and began trading
carbon credits in 2003. “I don’t care if you believe what Al
Gore and others are saying about carbon emissions causing global
warming or not. My interest is making you money,” Gaudern said.
“We grow trees that suck carbon ou