Northern Arizona University
IN-5: Carbon Mitigation Project Development
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
0.50 / 0.50 |
During the previous three years, the institution has::
| Yes or No | |
| Developed a peer reviewed carbon offsets project that follows an existing carbon reduction protocol | --- |
| Developed an innovative carbon offsets project that follows a new or modified project protocol | Yes |
A brief description of the institution’s carbon mitigation projects:
As part of this NOAA Climate Stewards funded project, two-dozen graduate students from the NAU Climate Science and Solutions (CSS) graduate program successfully completed a small-scale (2-acre) Ponderosa Pine reforestation initiative in the Fall of 2020. The project is a small-scale, proof-of-concept initiative for a much larger and future reforestation campaign in Northern Arizona. These students planted ~200 Ponderosa Pine saplings on previously burned National Forest land. Future graduate students will subsequently monitor survival rates and carbon sequestration. Specifically, it is estimated that on average, reforestation can result in the sequestration of between 1.1 and 7.7 metric tons of CO2 per acre, per year (Table 1; Brown et al., 1996). With this estimate in mind, the efforts of the CSS students will sequester 2.2 to 14.1 metric tons of CO2. Based on the EPA’s Carbon Footprint Calculator (https://www3.epa.gov/ carbon-footprint-calculator/), an average American household in Flagstaff produces between ~8-12 metric tons of CO2 per year. Thus, an acre of Ponderosa Pines planted as part of a reforestation strategy in Flagstaff could nearly offset the carbon output of an entire single-family home. The projected 10,000 acres of planned new growth as part of this greater project, could offset approximately 21% of all carbon emissions from Flagstaff county homes. The student's published work can be found below.
Documentation of the institution’s carbon mitigation project:
Website URL where documentation of the carbon mitigation project is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
Project led by John.Fegyveresi@nau.edu
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