Receiving as much as 200 inches of annual rainfall on average, the forested western slopes of the Oregon Coast Range unsurprisingly fits the definition as rainforest. In fact, much of the Pacific Coast of North America does in the area between Northern California’s redwoods and Southeastern Alaska. This region, along with the Canadian boreal forest and the world's tropical forests are considered the ecological lungs of the planet, filtering carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to create oxygen, while also storing the carbon in long-lived trees, dead standing and downed wood, and in roots in the soil. While all plants provide this function, the quick growth rates and large sizes that our coastal trees attain provides a powerful mechanism to help absorb the additional carbon dioxide that is dangerously warming our planet.
The carbon storage benefits of conserving natural habitats such as trees, marshes, and soils, in natural and working landscapes are “natural climate solutions”, and the overarching topic of a carbon-storage focused speaker series, “From Ridgetop to Reef”, hosted by the MidCoast Watersheds Council. On Thursday, January 9th , at 6:30 PM at the Pacific Maritime Heritage Center in Newport,Dr. Dominick DellaSalla of the Geos Institute, will focus on the vital role our coastal rainforests play globally. His talk will also discuss the importance of conserving unlogged forests, and how our working forests too can be managed for additional carbon benefits.
Dr. Dominick A. DellaSala is President and Chief Scientist of the Geos Institute in Ashland, Oregon and former President of the Society for Conservation Biology, North America Section. He is an internationally renowned author of over 200 science papers on forest and fire ecology, conservation biology, endangered species management, and landscape ecology. Dominick has given plenary and keynote talks ranging from academic conferences to the United Nations Earth Summit. He has appeared in National Geographic, Science Digest, Science Magazine, Scientific American, Time Magazine, Audubon Magazine, National Wildlife Magazine, High Country News, Terrain Magazine, NY Times, LA Times, USA Today, Jim Lehrer News Hour, CNN, MSNBC, “Living on Earth (NPR),” several PBS documentaries, and Fox News. Dominick is currently serving on the Oregon’s Global Warming Commission Subcommittee on Forest Carbon and is Editor of numerous scientific journals and publications. His book: Temperate and Boreal Rain Forests of the World: Ecology and Conservation received an academic excellence award from Choice magazine, one of the nation's top book review journals. His recent co-authored book, The Ecological Importance of Mixed-Severity Fires: Nature’s Phoenix, presents groundbreaking science on the ecological importance of wildfires. Dominick co-founded the Geos Institute in July 2006 and says he is motivated “to leave a living planet for my two daughters, two grandkids and all those that follow.”
Following the January presentation, on the first Thursday of each month until June, “From Ridgetop to Reef” will explore different habitats of Oregon’s Coast as natural climate solutions and their potential to store carbon, and the tools and incentives needed to foster widespread actions to enhance this capacity. On Thursday, January 9th, Dominick’s presentation will begin at 6:30 PM in the Pacific Maritime Heritage Center’s newly-renovated Doerfler Family Theatre in Newport on 333 SE Bay Blvd. Refreshments will be provided. Following all presentations part of the series, the MidCoast Watersheds Council regular Board meeting will follow to review current restoration work, the monthly financial report, and the work of the technical and administrative committees.