Carbon Sequestration on Rangeland
Why Learn About Carbon at All?
By Laney Jones
Carbon is all around us, it makes up parts of the atmosphere, the soil, plants, animals, all living things on Earth have carbon. Some might say that carbon is part of the backbone of our ecosystem. It is constantly being cycled through the Earth during the carbon cycle, a natural process that moves carbon from Earth to its atmosphere and back again. The carbon cycle is an extremely important concept for all of Earth’s living organisms to survive. Carbon allows farmers and ranchers to produce crops and livestock used for consumption and production. Join us as we learn more about carbon and how you can affect our planet through carbon sequestration.
Photo by Brett Sayles
Defining Carbon Sequestration
Before delving into what influences carbon sequestration, we first need to define the term and the accompanying expressions used.
Carbon Sequestration: “Captures, secures, and stores atmospheric carbon in plants, soils, and oceans.” Carbon sequestration removes carbon dioxide from Earth's atmosphere, where it is then stored in a form that promotes soil health and boosts plant growth.
Carbon Emissions: “The opposite process of carbon sequestration, where carbon is emitted through actions like soil respiration and the burning of fuels.”
Carbon Flux: “A balance between sequestration and emissions, provides ideal conditions for life on Earth.” Of all the carbon on Earth, 80% of it is inactive within the Earth and its oceans. When compared to the atmosphere, the Earth has five times more actively cycled carbon.
Carbon Ranching: “The process of implementing a series of land management practices designed to either increase carbon stocks or reduce the loss of biogenic carbon through plant, soil, animal and microbial processes.” One way that farmers and ranchers can have a positive impact on rangeland-carbon cycling is by focusing on the rangeland management practices that will be addressed below.
Stated by New Mexico State University range specialists and authors of Carbon Sequestration on Rangelands: A Primers, Dr. Casey Spackman and Dr. Christohper D. Allison.
An example of carbon that is sequestered within the Earth are fossil fuels. The industrial age has made fossil fuels easily accessible and heavily relied upon for humans. However, when burned, fossil fuels emit carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. This creates a carbon blanket, which traps the sun’s heat into Earth’s atmosphere. Carbon emitting into the atmosphere faster than it can be sequestered is thought to be resulting in climate change.
Agriculture’s Impact on Carbon Sequestration
There are many possibilities for carbon emissions in the atmosphere and/or the amount stored in the ground, but the topic plays a key role in the carbon cycle is agriculture. Agriculture has a key role in the carbon cycle and vice versa. Without carbon, farmers would not be able to produce the crops needed to make bread or ethanol for fuel. Ranchers would not have grass in their pastures or hay in their fields, to feed their livestock that produce food and other resources that are a necessity for human life.
Grazing Management with Livestock
Livestock grazing is one of the main uses of rangelands, especially in the western parts of the United States. According to the article rangelands could potentially sequester 2.3 to 7.3 billion metric tons of CO2, every year. These numbers would help counter the 3.3% of CO2 emissions from fossil fuels in the U.S., while enhancing the soil quality of the rangeland. However, overgrazing of rangeland leaves minimal aboveground plant material, causing a lack of carbon sequestration. On the other hand, rangelands that have a removal of less than 40% plant parts after grazing are well-managed grazing systems for rangelands. Well-managed grazing systems have been proven to increase:
Above and belowground plant production.
Nutrient cycling through animal excretions.
Acceleration of plant litter decomposition.
Additional dissipated material into the soil through the trampling of livestock.
All the points listed above are in favor of the benefits of grazing management on carbon sequestration, but a reasonable number of cases are finding inconclusive results. Some cases have shown that the soil organic matter has had no change or a decrease, while other cases have shown an increase. However, there are many variables at play with grazing management such as climate, soil types, plant life, all being specific to the site itself. Thus, highlighting the point that more studies are needed to make an educated assessment.
Soils Effect on Carbon Sequestration
Photo by Lisa Fotios
Soil composition has a major impact on carbon sequestration since it holds three times as much carbon compared to the atmosphere and earthly plant mass combined. The article mentions that “every ton of carbon stored in the soil removes or retains 3.67 tons of CO2 from the atmosphere. Most of this sequestered carbon lies within the top 6 inches of the soil layers.” Within these six inches of topsoil is where 70% of most plant roots exist within the soil. The type of soil in a specific area directly affects the amount of carbon being sequestered because some soil types have a higher organic carbon content than others. Some scientists believe soils richer in clay or silt produce smaller aggregates that help protect against carbon sequestration. However, like I mentioned, more studies need to be conducted on varying soil types to conclude the soil’s impact in relation to carbon sequestration.
How You Can Have an Influence
Farmers, ranchers, and land managers can start collecting data on their own rangeland to set up a baseline for that specific area for carbon sequestration. Rangelands can be monitored for increased vegetation amount and quality, both above and below ground. Grazing intensity should also be documented for the effects of:
Root biomass.
Correlating precipitation to vegetation response.
Evaluating the potential for soil improvements.
Photo by cottonbro studio
For farmers and ranchers looking to participate in establishing a carbon baseline, there are conservation programs that reward land managers who put in place positive rangeland grazing and management systems such as USDA and NRCS. These programs may help with setting up some of these practices within an operation and how to continue to record data collected in an area. By collecting this data for carbon sequestration, we can learn more about specific plant and soil types along with how they contribute to the carbon cycle.
Stay connected with the transformative work of Vision West ND by subscribing to our monthly newsletter at Vision West ND Newsletters. Dive deep into how each initiative and project under Vision West ND’s umbrella is crafting a brighter, more resilient future for North Dakota, one priority area at a time.
Resources