Peter Smallidge shared this article with me on the potential carbon sequestration benefits of tree planting: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/planting-trees-could-buy-more-t...
The article claims that the 900 million hectares suitable for tree planting did not include "natural grasslands". My guess is that figure includes pasture land in predominately forest-covered regions like the Northeast US, but excludes rangelands used predominately for grazing like parts of the western US, Mongolia, or the Argentine Pampas. In any case, that number could likely be much higher if we considered the "win-win" opportunities for developing open pastures and rangelands (where appropriate) in to silvopastures.
I've always thought of the "trees in to pasture" (vs. the "pasture in to trees") direction of silvopasturing as the more challenging of the two. It ain't cheap or easy to plant trees in sod environments full of herbivores. If scratching your head why, refer to the article posted elsewhere here on the forum from Graze magazine.
That said, however, I feel that one of the uncalculated benefits of planting trees in silvopastures is that the trees are often going to be well-managed (they have to be if they're going to survive the establishment phase) and selected for a specific purpose. A prime example would be nut grove or orchard silvopastures.
The article in the link above also correctly points out that the benefits of tree planting to mitigate climate change go beyond just the carbon sequestered by the trees.
Tags:
Started by Emily Macdonald Mar 20. 0 Replies 0 Likes
Can anyone share experiences with willow fodder for sheep? What cultivars did you use? Good sources for obtaining cuttings? What density did you plant? How did it work out? Did the sheep like…Continue
Started by Travis Hermance Mar 18. 0 Replies 0 Likes
I am clearing my woodlots for silvopasture in the Mid-Hudson River Valley in New York State. Can anyone recommend a good mixture of grasses and legumes that are more shade tolerate for my new…Continue
Started by Robbie Coville Mar 15. 0 Replies 0 Likes
Months ago I had read that woodland graziers tend to have higher acceptance of forest management activities: logging, thinning, mechanical interventions, prescribed burning, chemical treatments,…Continue
Started by Brett Chedzoy. Last reply by Joshua Greene Jan 2. 1 Reply 2 Likes
Hopefully some of you have found the time to attend either the "SilvoPro" training this week in PA or maybe even the International Agroforestry Conference in Ireland. Look forward to some updates…Continue
© 2024 Created by Peter Smallidge. Powered by