The Thing the Market Can't Buy
On the Colville National Forest in northeast Washington, the sawmill, the loggers-and-conservationists coalition, and the Forest Service capacity for restoration all exist. The episode asks whether any carbon market can pay to thin small trees and return low-intensity fire, and concludes it cannot, for several different reasons. Thinning costs carbon first, the counterfactual keeps shifting, and soil carbon cannot be measured. The money that works comes from auction appropriations, spent by government.
Who's who
- Duane Vaagen+4 more episodesMill owner who installed milling for 4.5-inch logs; helped form the coalition
- Mike Petersen+2 more episodesThe Lands Council leader who helped found the Northeast Washington Forestry Coalition
- Matthew Hurteau+2 more episodesFire and carbon scientist in the fuel-treatment carbon debate
- Margo RobbinsYurok cultural fire practitioner with the Cultural Fire Management Council
- Elizabeth AzzuzYurok cultural fire practitioner with the Cultural Fire Management Council
- Bill Tripp+1 more episodeKaruk Tribe fire practitioner
- Frank Kanawha Lake+1 more episodeForest Service researcher and Karuk descendant on cultural fire
- Don HankinsPlains Miwok fire scholar at Chico State
Where it happens
- Colville National Forest, Washington+8 more episodesSetting for the restoration work and a large wildfire reversal
- Northeast WashingtonHome of the sawmill and the forestry coalition
- Klamath region, CaliforniaHome of the Western Klamath Restoration Partnership and tribal burning
- Blue Creek, California+1 more episodeLand conveyed to the Yurok Tribe in 2025
Timeline
- 1987Duane Vaagen installs computer-guided milling able to process trees down to 4.5 inches.
- 2002The Northeast Washington Forestry Coalition forms.
- 2018SB 901 gives CAL FIRE $200 million a year from carbon auction revenue.
- 2024SB 310 is signed, creating cultural burn agreements that sunset in 2030.
- August 2025The Integrity Council approves three biochar methodologies.
- June 30, 2026The Climate Action Reserve adopts a 40-year commitment period.
Still debated
Scientists dispute whether thinning's carbon debt is repaid around year 40 to 51, and whether low-severity fire releases about 70 percent as much carbon as high-severity fire. Estimates of pyrogenic carbon's residence time vary widely, and Indigenous positions on monetizing cultural burning are left unflattened.
