Jachowski, Kathleen (Solutions, 217 Road 6EH, Cody, WY, 82414; Phone: 307-587-3723; Email: solution@180com.net)
K. Jachowski *
The Wyoming Legislature passed legislation in 2001 establishing the Wyoming Carbon Sequestration Advisory Committee. The responsibilities of the advisory committee are to: a) recommend policies or programs to encourage Wyoming agricultural and forest landowners to participate in developed C trading programs, b) encourage production of educational materials and organize outreach workshops/conferences about C sequestration, c) identify and recommend areas of research needed to understand and quantify C sequestration on agricultural and forest lands, and d) advise and assist the Director of the Department of Agriculture in the preparation of technical reports on the subject. The legislation mandated the committee be comprised of the following entities: Director of the Department of Agriculture, Director of the Department of Environmental Quality, livestock producer, crop producer, private forest landowner, forest products manufacturer, conservation districts, transportation industry, USDA-Agricultural Research Service, USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service, oil and gas industry, ethanol industry, College of Agriculture at University of Wyoming, and the electrical generation industry. The Advisory Committee is seeking resources to employ a program coordinator, has established rangeland and forestry research/demonstration studies for educational outreach as well as to improve quantification of potential carbon sequestration rates, and held a C sequestration outreach workshop. In addition, the Advisory Committee is partnering with other states in the development of grant proposals for regional programs related to C sequestration. A 5-year work plan has been developed outlining the vision and scope of work by the committee and identifies research/demonstration projects, workshops/conferences and other educational outreach efforts planned to educate the citizens of Wyoming on the subject of C sequestration and mitigation of global climate change, development of a best management practices guide for C sequestration, and develop an economic assessment of C sequestration potential for Wyoming.