March 2021 Webcast: Quantifying Carbon Storage with Remote Sensing Techniques

We are proud to present another edition of The Stewardship Network's Monthly Webcast (https://www.stewardshipnetwork.org/we...)

March 2021: “Quantifying Carbon Storage with Remote Sensing Techniques”

w/ guests Jackie Edinger, Jessica Einck, Sebastian Kasparian, and Lavran Pagano (University of Michigan)

“The need for more accessible and feasible ecosystem service assessments is critical to the future of land protection efforts. Uncoordinated development around urban areas is associated with the loss and fragmentation of rural open space, wildlife habitat, and wetlands, and the consequential decline in biodiversity. The City of Ann Arbor Greenbelt Program was developed in 2003 to preserve and protect open space, farmland, natural habitats, and the City’s source waters inside and outside the city limits. Now in its 17th year, the Greenbelt Program consists of over 6,100 acres of protected land on more than 65 parcels. While successful, the program lacks adequate ways to report impact and motivate support beyond acres preserved and funds leveraged.

The goal of our project is to develop two carbon storage geoprocessing tools, one for soil and another for aboveground biomass. Using a combination of existing data from the USDA, LiDAR remote sensing data, and a minimal amount of fieldwork, we have found that this is a feasible method for estimating carbon storage in these two areas.

We have applied both of our models to all properties currently protected in the Ann Arbor Greenbelt and have been able to provide the Greenbelt Program with the ability to assess and report on the ecosystem services of individual parcels and over the total acreage already protected as well as any additional properties added in the future. We hope that our methodology can serve as a blueprint for regional land conservancy organizations to effectively advocate for the importance of conservation easements.”