Conservation districts work together to develop soil carbon baseline

    Androscoggin Valley Soil and Water Conservation District, an equal opportunity employer and provider, has partnered with the Conservation Districts in Aroostook and Kennebec Counties to continue development of a soils carbon baseline in the state. Establishment of the baseline is necessary for landowners to market soil conservation projects as carbon credits. The southern Aroostook SWCD will be contacting farms in the southern Aroostook district to gather information for the survey. 
    The conservation districts will be gathering management data from representative farms within their counties. They will be contacting landowners and asking them to participate in a survey of past and present management and cropping practices. That information, along with other site-specific data, will be entered into a modeling program that will yield the amount of total carbon present in the soils now and establish the baseline. A change in management practices can result in increased carbon. The gain of carbon over time can be counted as a carbon credit and sold on the voluntary cap and trade carbon market.
    Though we are perhaps a couple of years away from being able to market this type of carbon credit in the state, there are other options that can provide an additional source of income to Maine landowners while also benefiting the environment. Managed forestry projects, tree planting projects, anaerobic manure digester projects, grassland projects and fossil fuel displacement projects are all now acceptable as a source of carbon credits.
    The project began in Androscoggin and Sagadahoc counties in 2007. New grants were received in 2008 to extend the pilot project. Funds and/or in-kind support have been received from: USDA/NRCS conservation innovation grants; Maine departments of environmental protection, agriculture and conservation; USDA Risk Management Agency (with the Farm Energy Partners Network); Farm Credit; USDA Maine resource conservation and development – Time and Tide, Heart of Maine, Down East, Threshold of Maine, St. John Valley-Aroostook;Maine Association of conservation districts; University of southern Maine; Maine Rural Partners; Maine Farm Bureau; and individual conservation districts.  
    If you would like more information about the voluntary carbon market and what needs to be done to participate, check out the Androscoggin Valley soil and water conservation district Web site at www.androscogginswcd.net or contact any of the participating Aroostook conservation districts: southern Aroostook, 532-9407 ext 3, central Aroostook, 764-4151 ext 3 and St. John Valley, 834-3311 ext 3.