Four Converging Streams: Towards a wood ecosystem approach to regenerating landscapes and communities

For several years, I have partnered with 6th generation Mike Berry to pioneer a "Wood Ecosystem," an integrated, self-sustaining approach to wildfire mitigation, landscape conservation, and rural development. The process emerged from the need to improve forest and ecosystem health and reduce wildfire threats in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of New Mexico. However, the more general issue is that existing approaches to sustaining landscapes and communities are not working, or where they are working, the sheer cost and uncertainty of donor-driven projects coupled with the challenges of working with federal agencies means that these efforts are for the most part, not scalable or sustainable. 

While there have been some notable successes assisting communities in particular places, such as ranchers in the Malpai Borderlands of Arizona/New Mexico and the Blackfoot Valley of Montana (both of whom I've worked with), these projects and many others illustrate that landscape conservation and adaptive management have not met its promise, nor are they likely too. There are simply not the resources on the part of agencies or donors to pour in the millions of dollars it takes to sustain even one of these efforts indefinitely, much less the hundreds that need to be generated across the continent to support local people and steward our natural resources. And that's the level of effort required meaningfully address natural resource management and climate adaptation challenges.

At the same time, largely missing from the conversation is a biocultural understanding of landscapes and a recognition that social and ecological elements of ecosystem integrity are deeply entwined, for one cannot restore forests or watersheds without engaging the communities and cultures that historically sustained them. The rich heritage of rural communities needs to be more than fund-raising opportunities or PR tools to further outsider's interests. Where local communities too often only receive a fraction of the funding or political clout raised in their image – most of the risk, few of the rewards. In short, the system is broken, and we need to fix it and stop the collective delusion that public-private partnerships alone can restore landscapes and livelihoods. Instead, we must look to the richer array of interests that must be aligned to help landscape conservation be more relevant.

In response, we developed the Sangre de Cristo Mountain Initiative to explore in one discrete multi-million-acre landscape how to apply what we've learned from decades of collaborative conservation and other integrated land stewardship efforts as well as from local and indigenous cultures, business, complexity science, natural resource management, and related endeavors. The most fundamental issue is that while donor funding is essential to launch these efforts – they cannot be sustained through federal grants or donor dollars. At the same time, federal programs need to be aligned with collective efforts that do not benefit powerful interest groups but generate systems that raise all boats. We must devise a strategy in which natural resource harvest sustains local economies and creates durable income streams to promote all forms of conservation and climate change mitigation. In short, a circular economy that creates, like natural ecosystems, a regenerative process that sustains itself (e.g., http://fieldguide.capitalinstitute.org)

However, having a vision alone is not enough. To attain regenerative conservation and rural development, four action streams are converging.

1) Carbon Economies

Carbon is the basis of all life and most, if not all, economies. And yet, much of conservation and rural development almost entirely ignore this fact. To be regenerative, socio-ecological systems must be based on a carbon economy (as in natural ecosystems) where materials and resources circulate throughout the

system and are not flushed out or wasted. To be sustainable, these carbon flows need to be monetized to capture the total value of the goods and services that influence landscapes and communities. The Sangre de Cristo Mountain Initiative is a pilot project that uses biochar and biomass energy to create multiple income streams for local people that support forest thinning and watershed restoration. These streams include but are not limited to federal cost-share benefits for producing biochar, the sale of biochar and combined heat and power systems, and various forms of carbon credits and payments for ecosystem services. The goal is for people to do well financially by doing good for their land and communities. Through hundreds of pages and numerous reports we and others have documented, this is possible. This year we enter the design and implementation phase of applying what we have learned.

2) Carbon Supply Chains

Systems typically are only as strong as their weakest link. In the case of forestry, this weakness is the removal of wood waste by-products (such as chips or sawdust) and transportation costs (both monetary and in terms of carbon balance). Especially with the recent fires in northern New Mexico, we need to harvest vastly more timber resources than we can sustainably create local demand for in the near term. In collaboration with OnTrackNorthAmerica and a diversity of partners, we are devising a decision support tool by which transportation networks and forest logistics efficiencies are maximized in order to restore rail links and other more efficient transportation. These systems are vital for revitalizing rural economies through generating new markets for forest products that support forest thinning.

3) The Carrot

The Hermits Peak Fire Assistance Act recently introduced by Representative Lujan, coupled with promises President Biden made on a recent trip to New Mexico, highlights the federal willingness to pay for the damages involved from recent wildfires. The challenge is ensuring the resources provided are not just physical structures and other band-aid solutions – but overall system recovery. This means a forward-thinking strategy that improves people's lives and does not just approximate conditions as they existed before the fires. Without a forward-thinking approach that instills a system of recovery and restoration, including local jobs and the revitalization of a forestry economy, the affected communities and ecosystems will decline, and we'll be back in the same position of facing more wildfires in a few years. Given the excessive costs related to wildfire suppression and recovery, a well-planned and executed strategy could save the federal government funding over the long haul.

4) The Stick

At the same time, political solutions require legal pressure. A small, focused, and influential set of claimants ranging from mill owners and large land owners to local loggers and property owners who suffered damage are exploring the option of legal action. Here too, the goal is not to just think about physical property and other short-term solutions – but more expansively about the land and communities. To create jobs and sustainable livelihoods while improving the health of forests and watersheds. This is done by asking those with deep roots in the community what they need to have their land and livelihoods restored and then acting on those needs through a coordinated, strategic approach. 

In Summary:  In this post-fire period, we have an unparalleled opportunity to make a tangible difference in the future of our landscapes and communities. This opportunity should not be squandered and requires close coordination between different elements to assure assets are leveraged to maximize positive outcomes for rural communities in the Sangre de Cristo region of New Mexico.