Introduction to Conservation Biomass

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About The Earth Partners

• Project development and financing to restore land• Soil scientists, engineers, finance professionals, and

biomass and carbon market developers• Focused on restoration to create bio-energy value

chains• We are sourcing, processing, conducting technical

analysis, financing, and delivering bioenergy purchase agreements

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Applied Ecological Services (AES) • One of the largest ecological restoration firm since

1975• Over 200 technical and restoration and research staff

in 9 offices, working on >700 projects annually in grasslands, savannas, and many other ecosystems

• Owner/operator of one of the largest native plant nurseries in the USA and elsewhere

Brinkman & Associates• One of the largest reforestation companies in the world• Reforested over a million hectares of forest• Manages over a million hectares of forest in Canada

and the tropics• Developed the 2 million acre Lax Kw’alaams First

Nation-(BC) biomass project

The Earth Partners is a partnership with AES and Brinkman

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Conservation is unique because it bundles bioenergy, land restoration, and environmental assets (e.g., carbon, water)

• Restores degraded/marginal agricultural land through growing native species and removing invasives

• This biomass is sustainably harvested and processed as a bioenergy feedstock

• Co-benefits include improved water quality, flood-damage benefits, improved wildlife habitat, and reduced land management/operational costs

• Land with environmental/crop production risk such as flood-prone areas

• Poor erodible soils, deteriorating hydric soils, and saline/sodic soils

What is conservation biomass? Degraded/marginal land?

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Conservation Biomass in the Midwest

Willow Cattails Native Plants

Marginal agricultural lands grow diverse, flood-tolerant ecosystems

Multiple revenue sources from conservation biomass projects

Bioenergy for heat and power, or a future liquid fuel market

Carbon credits from soil carbon (as markets develop)

Payments for improved water quality and flood risk mitigation, hunting leases, wetland banking, etc.

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Conservation biomass: understanding the relationship between bioenergy, land restoration, and carbon

• Depleted eroded soils• Dewatered hydrology• Weedy species/sparse annual crops

• Healthy, stable soils• Restored hydrology• Locally suited productive plant species

CO2 is removed from the atmosphere and re-assimilated into soils through a) precipitation reaching the ground as carbonic acid binds with carbonates and contributes to inorganic carbon soil levels, b) photosynthetic activity of plants as root matter dies annually contributing soil organic carbon, and c) reduced soil erosion to protect carbon stocks

CO2 is released from the soils to the atmosphere and waterways through a) soil disturbances from tillage and fertilization, b) soil erosion, and c) oxidation of dewatered former-wetland soils now planted to crops or used for land development

Soils with low or declining amounts of carbon (tons/acre)

Soils with high or increasing amounts of carbon (tons/acre)

CO2 CO2

The productive native plant species used to restore land are harvested as bioenergy crops, a cycle which is repeated over time to further build up soil carbon levels and restore soil, hydrology, biodiversity, and water quality.

With bioenergy production…From marginal, degraded land… To productive, healthy land…

Measurement and monitoring of this increased soil carbon produces a carbon-neutral bioenergy source and potential monetizable carbon credits

And carbon value

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Conservation Biomass Addresses Sustainability Policy Factors

• Unlike fossil fuels, conservation biomass is carbon-neutral because the above-ground biomass is regrown after each harvest

• Conservation biomass can create a large carbon asset because of net increases in soil carbon from restoration

Energy policy

Food-vs-fuel

Carbon neutrality

• An important renewable energy to support security polices• Conservation biomass production is aligned with important

co-benefits (e.g., land restoration, carbon neutrality)

• Conservation biomass doesn’t displace food production• Conservation biomass is produced on sub-optimal food

production lands• Conservation biomass improves soil and water health and

increases land productivity

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• Soil carbon is the second largest living carbon sink on earth• The method is measurement/performance based, not based

on models and hypothetical literature numbers

• Tested on over 60 restoration, conservation, and agricultural projects in North, Central, South American; New Zealand, Europe, etc.

• Tracks all carbon stocks, including above-ground, below-ground, soil, litter, deadwood, end-product (livestock, energy, etc)

• Simple and efficient modular form • Allows for complex baselines• Cost effective implementation through stratification

• The method will serve as the basis for several of the recent Conservation Innovation Grants by USDA

Why this is important

Type of projects

Advantages

Work-to-date

TEP will utilize its Soil Carbon Quantification Methodology to measure, monitor, and verify any carbon credits

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TEP and POET’s Conservation Biomass Partnership

• TEP, AES, and POET have developed a partnership to promote conservation biomass

• TEP will supply conservation biomass to POET’s solid fuel boiler

• TEP’s pilots are focused on creating environmentally sensitive, cost-effective, and high quality bioenergy products

• This opportunity can transform marginal agricultural lands to create significant environmental benefits

We’ve explored with The Nature Conservancy (TNC) the potential for generating conservation biomass at Broken Kettle Grasslands from restoration practices such as clearing of woody encroachment from grasslands and planting native vegetation on floodplain lands

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Thank you.

For more information, contact Chas Taylor at chas@theearthpartners.com