Illinois Correspondent

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — $12 million of a $35 million United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) grant will flow to Purdue University  to help family forest owners practice climate-smart forestry as part of USDA’s Partnership for Climate Smart Commodities program. 

“The USDA’s groundbreaking investment will help unlock the potential of family forests to reach our nation’s ambitious climate goals,” said Rita Hite, president and CEO of the American Forest Foundation (AFF), the Washington, D.C.-based non-profit charged with coordinating the nine-state project. “We are energized by the Administration’s commitment to investing in rural America and advancing win-win solutions for people and our planet. This funding will be instrumental in catalyzing the impact of AFF’s Family Forest Carbon Program to support and empower all landowners in the fight against climate change.”

Purdue will receive the lion’s share of the funding due in part to Indiana’s hardwood industry, which has an economic impact of more than $77 billion in timber-based products across the U.S. economy. The hardwood industry in Indiana has an overall estimated impact of more than $10 billion and supports more than 70,000 jobs within the state, according to Purdue University. 

Under the banner Engaging Family Forests to Improve Climate-Smart Commodities (EFFICACI), the majority of grant funding will be directed to family forest owners by the AFF, which developed EFFICACI along with program partners Purdue, The Nature Conservancy, the Center for Heirs Property Preservation and Women Owning Woodlands. EFFICACI will serve to leverage the Family Forest Carbon Program, which seeks to expand and solidify the market for climate-smart timber commodities by engaging family forest owners across 13 states (Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky among them) including minority and underserved landowners. 

The initiative is expected to involve around 1,600 landowners with an estimated 162,000 acres of forestland within the next five years. The project could sequester as much as 4.9 million tons of atmospheric carbon over the next two to three decades, according to Songlin Fei, director of Purdue’s Integrated Digital Forestry Initiative (www.ag.purdue.edu/digital-forestry/). 

“Our digital forestry group has been working on various tools and thinking about how to apply these tools to real-life problems. This is an opportunity to apply our expertise to solving part of the climate-change puzzle,” Fei said, in a Purdue news release. 

The university newsroom reported that Fei’s team will use advanced digital forestry technologies to measure, monitor, report and verify carbon sequestrations. The automated technology will be based on data collected by satellites and drones utilizing sensors such as light detection and ranging (LiDAR). The team also plans to develop a simulation system that will utilize artificial intelligence to generate optimized forest management scenarios.

The work will result in a web-based tool that landowners can use to estimate and predict the climate-smart commodity market potential of their properties, Fei noted. His team is also building a smartphone-based app for tree measurement and monitoring.

“We’re bringing a traditional field into the digital age,” said Fei.

Economic incentives available for participating landowners will vary relative to the climate-smart conservation practices employed. Foresters or project staff will be employed to consult with landowners about technical advice and guidance in establishing a forest management plan.

“This grant allows us to combat climate change, put technology into the hands of forest landowners, and engage underserved and rural Americans,” Fei said.

In Ohio, sales of hardwood products added $9.1 billion in value to the Ohio economy in 2016, according to a  study commissioned by the U.S. Hardwood Federation. Ohio hardwood product output was valued at $5 billion, with the economic “ripple effects” of these hardwood products supportive of $9.1 billion in economic output, $4 billion in gross state product and 55,015 jobs in the state economy.

The Michigan hardwood industry added $8.2 billion in value to the Michigan economy in 2016, according to the U.S. Hardwood Federation. Michigan’s hardwood product output was valued at $4.6 billion. The economic “ripple effects” of these hardwood products supported $8.2 billion in economic output, $3.6 billion in gross state product and 46,263 jobs in the state economy.  

Overall, American families own 40 percent of the nation’s forests, yet few participate in forest carbon projects or engage in a management plan, according to Purdue University.

The forestry initiative is among some 70 projects to be launched under first-round funding for USDA’s Climate-Smart Commodities Partnership project, which has a ceiling of $2.8 billion. A second funding pool for climate-smart forestry, row crop and animal agriculture projects is expected to be announced later this year.