Offsets for Rally attendees
Participants who wish to voluntarily offset their travel may add on carbon offsets to their Rally registration. Those credits will be purchased from Southern Plains Land Trust (accredited). 100% of the proceeds will be allocated to furthering SPLT’s mission of creating and protecting a network of shortgrass prairie preserves. Optional carbon offset for travel emissions are as follows: less than 300 miles round trip – $5; 300-700 miles round trip – $10; 700 miles or greater round trip – $35.
The Southern Plains Land Trust’s (SPLT’s) network of shortgrass prairie preserves protect not only biodiversity: they also sequester carbon, thereby protecting the Earth’s climate. The prairie is the inverse of the rainforest – most of the biomass in rainforests is above-ground in lush vegetation and tall trees, while most of the biomass in the prairie is below-ground, in the native grasses’ thick roots that stretch many feet deep and form dense mats. Less vulnerable to impacts from drought and fire, the prairie’s underground carbon sink makes grassland preservation a stable and long-term approach to addressing climate change.
SPLT has enrolled its two largest preserves, Raven’s Nest Nature Preserve and Heartland Ranch, under the Climate Action Reserve’s Grassland Protocol. These properties sequester over 10,000 metric tonnes of carbon annually. Sale of these carbon credits creates the ultimate feedback loop: it allows SPLT to purchase more land, which sequesters more carbon, and protects more wildlife. Among the wildlife beneficiaries is the US National Mammal: the American bison, which SPLT has reintroduced to its Heartland Ranch preserve. By participating in SPLT’s carbon program, you’ll help the climate, as well as the bison and other uniquely North American species native to the Great Plains.
Land Trust Alliance Offsets
Sponsored by The Climate Trust, emissions from Land Trust Alliance staff travel, staff hotel rooms, heating/cooling/electrical at the Raleigh Convention Center, field trip buses and freight to/from Raleigh will be offset through the Bear Creek Watershed Forest Carbon Project.
The Bear Creek Watershed Forest Carbon Project is located near the mouth of the Columbia River on the City of Astoria, Oregon’s watershed forest. The 3,700-acre Bear Creek Watershed Forest protects the drinking water supply for the citizens of Astoria and is comprised primarily of western hemlock, western red cedar, Sitka spruce and red alder. Carbon offset revenues support public capital improvements such as drinking water pipe upgrades and better enable forest management to prioritize water quality and wildlife habitat for species like the Roosevelt elk, black tailed deer, cougar, black bear, mink and salmon.