A pilot program on wetland restoration in St. Charles Parish being called “a game changer” is expected to air in a special on PBS.
Sharon Mack, president of New Orleans-based Tierra Resources, is conducting the program, called the Luling Oxidation Pond Wetlands Assimilation System, with a grant through Entergy Corp.’s environmental initiative fund.
Mack said PBS is expected to announce in April when the program, a five – to six-minute video, will air to educate the public about the initiative.
“We have the pilot project for the whole country in St. Charles Parish,” said L.J. Brady, director of the parish’s Department of Wastewater that is overseeing the program.
“The goal is to identify carbon credits to pay for the flow easement. We discharge into the wetlands owned by a third party and they charge for this.”
In lieu of the payment, the landowner gets carbon credits, Brady said.
Mack said it works like this: When wetlands are restored, landowners can use this new method to calculate the amount of carbon dioxide and other green house gas emissions the rebuilt wetlands will absorb over time.
The restore the wetlands at a privately-owned project site in Luling, the parish is redirecting treated municipal wastewater into a 950-acre wetland to restore the hydrology, boost plant life and soil productivity.
“The Luling pilot will be the first in the nation to demonstrate the true costs and benefits of commercial wetland carbon projects,” she said. “To deliver the successful restoration of the wetland, the project intends to produce and market high-quality carbon credits that are independently verified according to a trusted standard.”
The area, which Mack described as a coastal swamp subject to sinking and saltwater intrusion, is expected to help quantify ecosystem services.
President Barack Obama last year mandated ecosystem services be incorporated into government decision making, she said.
Nationally, the program will help quantify ecosystem services on carbon credits for wetlands. Wetland carbon credits also known as “Blue Carbon,” which Mack said opens the door to a new “self-sustaining revenue source for wetlands restoration through the sales of carbon credits.”
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