The carbon credit proposal has been quiet this year. The reason is that we do not have good data to forecast yields for ponderosa pine plantations in the Willamette Valley. Since credit payments are based on dollars per wood volume, value predictions have been difficult.
The consensus is that Willamette Valley ponderosa pine plantations will produce a great deal more wood than drier sites east of the mountains. Therefore we need to take measurements for existing stands of Willamette Valley source ponderosa to develop yield tables to help accurately predict yields in higher rainfall areas. Existing plantations in the Valley are barely old enough to provide good data. Doug McGuire, an Extension Forestry Silviculture Specialist at OSU has helped develop procedures to measure young plantations. He can then use ORGANON to build reliable volume tables. The procedures have been written and are in the field testing phase. If you have plantations that are over 28 years old they could be candidates for measurement please let us know.
