November 2023 Stakeholder Update
Red River Reforestation + Rice Timber Grant + Living Shoreline Case Study
Dear Stakeholders,
This week’s meeting began with an expression of gratitude for our facilitator of four years, Robin Rather, who has moved on to pursue other opportunities. Robin has been integral to our work, and we are deeply grateful for her contributions. She remains part of the BCarbon family, and we wish her all the best in her future endeavors.
Melanie Martin, our Technical Operations Manager, then gave updates on BCarbon’s subcommittees: Living Shorelines, Methane, Communications, DEI, Forest, and Soil. To join any of these, please email Sarah.Swackhamer@BCarbon.org or Melanie.Martin@bcarbon.org
Our CEO Jim Blackburn then spoke about the work of BCarbon’s recently formed Communications Subcommittee. He outlined our buyer engagement strategy plans and discussed the role of environmental and social co-benefits in increasing credit integrity. His presentation also outlined the potential of a ”Texas portfolio” of credits from the marshes, forests, and soils of BCarbon’s backyard. These could assist in the creation of a sustainable, circular economy in Texas.
We then heard from Brian Thomas of Carbon Rho on his forest restoration pilot project in the Red River Basin. Brian spoke about his baseline study of 26,420 acres enrolled under the BCarbon Forest Protocol and presented the project’s findings on carbon accrual, ecological uplift, and benefits to hydrology and wildlife. Carbon Rho is seeking to expand its forest restoration and afforestation work across the 4-State Region and beyond.
Next, Jim spoke about BCarbon’s work developing a commercial timber protocol under a grant from the Rice Management Corporation in partnership with Larson & McGowin and Gensler Architects. The methodology will issue credits from the carbon stored in cut timber and will include a life cycle analysis from harvest to incorporation into a physical structure. It will be different from anything on the market today.
Lalise Mason, BCarbon’s in-house coastal design and planning expert, presented a feasibility study of living shorelines, completed under a grant from Formosa Plastics. The study includes 25 concept projects within a 30-mile radius of Point Comfort spanning 60 miles of shoreline.
We wrapped up the meeting with some updates on BCarbon operations. Jim provided an update on our Methane Capture and Reclamation (MCR) protocol, which will begin accepting applications on November 7. Miguel and James gave an overview of new project applications — 4 soil projects totaling 104,000 acres and 3 forestry projects totaling 52,000 — and a few grant updates: a Texas A&M AgriLife Climate Smart project on carbon market outreach with forestry and grazing case studies, and our ongoing work with Prairie View A&M University and the US Business Council for Sustainable Development under a grant from the Bia-Echo Foundation. For the latter, we are working to create a new co-operative collaborative strategy for bringing small landowners and communities of color into the carbon market.
You can view the compiled slides from all these presentations here:
Here’s our meeting schedule for the next month:
Methane Subcommittee: Monday, November 6th, at 3 PM CT
Living Shorelines Subcommittee: Thursday, November 9th, at 11 AM CT
Full Stakeholder Working Group: Thursday, December 7th, at 9 AM CT
And as always, if you have questions, comments, ideas, or concerns, feel free to email, call, text or set up a zoom.
BCarbon