Beers and Payment for Ecosystem Services? Wine not?

Date of Visit: August 7, 2019
Type of event: Study tour
Topic: Payments for Ecosystem Services
Organization: City of Astoria
Location: Bear Creek Watershed, Astoria, Oregon
Hosts: Brian Kittler / Forest program Director of Sustainable Northwest, Ben Hayes /City of Astoria Forester (Springboard Forestry)
International Fellows: Richard Banda (Malawi), Fen-hui Chen (Taiwan), Temitope Dauda (Nigeria), Zhongyuan Ding (China), Ana Kanoppa (Brazil), Will Maiden (United Kingdom), Romain Matile (France), Rodolfo Vieto (Costa Rica)
WFI Staff: Shadia Duery / International Fellowship Program Manager, Rick Zenn / Senior Fellow

One of the local microbreweries
in Cannon Beach, Oregon

You may have heard that the best craft beers can be found in the Pacific Northwest, right? But what is the real reason why a small town on the Oregon coast is among the best brewing cities in the USA? We went to check it out.

My colleagues from the World Forest Institute’s International Fellowship Program and I visited Bear Creek Watershed, an important water treatment plant that, during the summer, supplies around 4 million gallons of drinking water a day to the approximately 15,000 people of the city of Astoria.

Faced with an area of about 3,800 acres of forest with native species (Western Hemlock, Douglas-fir, and Cedar) and the need to unlock funds, local policy-makers made the decision to avoid intensive timber harvest, as this method could threaten local water quality. Instead, in 2014, they came up with an innovative financing mechanism, a Carbon Project. The project’s objective is Improved Forest Management with the intent of increasing carbon stocks throughout the project period through three tools: i) Extending the harvest rotation of already established plantations; ii) Delaying harvest; and iii) Reducing the volume of harvest in the future (they cut 25% of the growth).

Bear Creek Reservoir

Hosted by the City of Astoria forester Ben Hayes (Springboard Forestry) accompanied by Brian Kittler, Forest Program Director from Sustainable Northwest, we had the opportunity to see a low-impact harvest model that avoids sediment runoff.

The finance mechanism adopted by the city of Astoria was the concept of payments for environmental services. Reducing the volume of timber harvested in the Bear Creek Basin increased the carbon stocks that were traded (or sold) on the voluntary market. From January 2014 to September 2015, the project is estimated to have resulted in the removal of 262,154 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (mtCO2e) emissions and the generation of approximately $2 million in revenue for the city. The transparency of the project’s process is guaranteed through the American Carbon Registry and an agreement with The Climate Trust.

Add Low-impact harvesting reduces sediment runoff

But what about the benefits? The revenue from the sale of carbon credits were invested in the city’s public services, including the local library, city parks, and fire trucks. There is also the added benefit of maintenance of water quality. And here is the key point! As is well known, over 90% of beer is made up of a substance called H2O. So, to make good beer, in addition to malt and hops, you will also need a forest! In summary, as Ben Hayes mentioned, a healthy forest is the highest-quality water filter.

Ana Kanoppa, International Fellow from Brazil

An International Fellow’s Thoughts and Perspectives 

Generally, forests, regardless of the region where they are located, comprise issues that go beyond environmental subjects (and may include economic, social, and political aspects). For example, in my home country, Brazil, this means that maintaining forest cover can increase water security in large cities, promote the rural economy by helping the agricultural sector, and mitigate climate change. In fact, as we can see, the benefits are collective! So, if I could make a slogan for the special Pacific Northwest region, it would be: keep calm, plant trees, and drink good beer! Cheers, Saúde, Salud, Santé, 干杯,(Gānbēi!), 乎乾啦(ho da la)!