On the East Coast, for instance, a landowner will be paid 10 times more by year 5 for planting pine trees instead of native forest, and farmland is going under pine trees in many places. On highly erodible soils, the folly of planting shallow-rooted pine trees and clear-felling them every 25-30 years is obvious. If pine forests are planted and left as carbon sinks, there is no work for anyone. Stuff ''On highly erodible soils, permanent native forests are the only wise option for carbon farming.'' The trick is to produce it in ways that also yield rich soils, thriving forests, healthy waterways and flourishing communities.

Source: Stuff July 06, 2020 17:00 UTC