This is the first of three Public Lands Blog posts that focus on Oregon’s coast. Part 1 looks at Oregon’s (and the nation’s) “blue carbon” and a congressional effort to conserve and restore it. Part 2 will examine coastal wetland loss, conservation, and restoration. Part 3 will describe a now very rare type of coastal wetland: the tidal swamp or tidal forested wetland.
Figure 1. Kelp forests were once common offshore Oregon and should be again. Source: NOAA National Ocean Service.
NOAA’s National Ocean Service (NOS) defines blue carbon as “carbon captured by the world’s ocean and coastal ecosystems.” Blue—along with green and teal—are my favor colors of carbon. Because blue carbon ecosystems are shrinking every year and are among the most threatened ecosystems on Earth, urgent action is needed to protect them. Fortunately, US Representative Suzanne Bonamici is on the case.
Carbon: Available in More Than Just Basic Black
Laura Zinke helpfully published a scientific paper on the colorization of carbon.
A full spectrum of colour-based descriptions has emerged to describe the properties and distribution of organic carbon: black, brown, red, blue, green and teal. This colour-based terminology contributes to our evolving understanding of the carbon cycle by moving past traditional, broad classifications of carbon types (often as simple as inorganic vs. organic carbon), to more nuanced definitions based on carbon function, attribute, or location. For example, some of the colours (blue, green and teal) highlight the role of carbon in climate change mitigation via sequestration. Other types (black, brown and red) impact Earth’s heat balance or promote cryospheric melting. [emphasis added]
Black and brown carbon particles when landing on ice and snow increase its melting. Furthermore, if one breathes in these fine (as in “small,” not as in “good”) particulate matters, one never breathes or coughs them out. Red carbon includes living biological particles on snow that could actually span the spectrum from yellow to purple.
Green is assigned to carbon stored in terrestrial ecosystems. Blue is assigned to oceanic carbon in mangroves, salt marshes, seagrasses, seaweed, and sediment. Last, but not least, teal is for carbon stored in inland freshwater wetlands.
The carbon rainbow is very likely not complete, so pay attention.
The Pacific Northwest Blue Carbon Working Group focuses on “intertidal salt marshes.” Tidal wetlands include “emergent marshes, forested swamps and scrub-shrub swamps, and seagrass beds.” Part 2 of this blue carbon series will focus on Oregon’s coastal wetlands, while Part 3 goes deep on Oregon’s forested swamps.
The Importance of Blue Carbon
Blue carbon, in contrast to some other colors of carbon, is all good. Professor Carlos Duarte at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia notes that blue carbon “has no negative impacts, contributes to adaptation by raising the seafloor and buffering waves, provides additional benefits, such as enhanced fishery resources, and is cost-effective.”
The National Ocean Service notes:
Sea grasses, mangroves, and salt marshes along our coast [Figure 2] “capture and hold” carbon, acting as something called a carbon sink. These coastal systems, though much smaller in size than the planet’s forests, sequester this carbon at a much faster rate, and can continue to do so for millions of years. Most of the carbon taken up by these ecosystems is stored below ground where we can’t see it, but it is still there. The carbon found in coastal soil is often thousands of years old!
Figure 2. Blue carbon means not only mangroves, salt marshes, and seagrasses, but also other carbon-rich ecosystems such as kelp forests and tidal Sitka spruce forests. Think globally, act locally. Source: Blue Carbon Initiative.
The abstract of a chapter on blue carbon in the book Coastal Wetlands: An Integrated Ecosystem Approach explains:
Emission of greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide (CO2), has been the main cause of climate change and global warming since the mid-20th century. Blue carbon (BC) ecosystems, which include tidal marshes, mangroves, and seagrass meadows, play a key role in climate change mitigation and adaptation. Despite occupying only 0.2% of the ocean surface, they contribute 50% of carbon burial in marine sediments, equivalent to the sequestration of 1%–2% of current global CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion. Conversely, damage to these ecosystems risks the release of that carbon back to the atmosphere. Conserving and restoring BC ecosystems not only maintains CO2 sequestration capacity but also services essential for climate change adaptation along coasts, including prevention of shoreline erosion. However, BC ecosystems rank among the most threatened ecosystems on earth. Urgent action is needed to prevent further degradation, to avoid additional greenhouse emissions, as well as restoring degraded habitats to recover their climate change mitigation potential. [emphasis added]
The Ongoing Loss of Blue Carbon
The Blue Carbon Initiative (BCI) focuses its conservation efforts on coastal habitats. BCI categorizes blue carbon ecosystems as either mangroves, tidal marshes, or seagrasses:
Mangroves are being lost at a rate of 2% per year. Experts estimate that carbon emissions from mangrove deforestation account for up to 10% of emissions from deforestation globally, despite covering just 0.7% of land coverage.
Tidal marshes are being lost at a rate of 1–2% per year. They cover roughly 140 million hectares of Earth’s surface. They have lost more than 50% of their historical global coverage.
Seagrasses cover less than 0.2% of ocean floor, but store about 10% of the carbon buried in the oceans each year. Seagrasses are being lost at a rate of 1.5% per year and have lost approximately 30% of historical global coverage.
Farther offshore are, or should be again, kelp forests (Figure 1), big-ass algae that grows in the shallow sea. One reason to bring back the sea otter to the Oregon coast is to naturally regulate the number of sea urchins so they no longer clear-cut kelp forests. (See my Public Lands Blog post “Bring Back the Elakha.”)
Bonamici on the Case
With her 98-percent correct lifetime voting score from the League of Conservation Voters, Representative Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR-1st) (Figure 3) is more than just a reliable vote for conservation on bills that come to the House floor. She is a leader on ocean, coast, and estuary conservation matters in the US House of Representatives. She’s on the Environment and Energy Subcommittee of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.
Figure 3. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR-1st). Source: Bonamici Office.
Bonamici also served on the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis. She cochairs both the House Oceans Caucus and the House Estuary Caucus. Caucuses (informal associations of members of Congress centered on issues rather than politics) are her thing. Bonamici is a member of more than fifty House caucuses, task forces, and coalitions. Caucuses can be a great way to obtain bipartisan support for legislation.
Bonamici has partnered with Representatives Don Young (R-AK), Derek Kilmer (D-WA-6th), and Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA-3rd) on the proposed Ocean Acidification Innovation Act. Bonamici also is a leader in the fight against marine garbage, again partnering with Young.
Her proposed Coastal and Ocean Acidification Stressors and Threats (COAST) Act would focus research to better understand and address the acidification of the ocean due to increased carbon dioxide levels. The bill has thirty-three co-sponsors.
The Proposed Blue Carbon for Our Planet Act
Bonamici, along with two Republican and two Democratic cosponsors, has introduced the Blue Carbon for Our Planet Act (H.R.2750, 117th Congress).
“The health of our ocean reflects the health of our planet, and for too long our ocean has literally taken the heat for us,” says Bonamici. “Pollution is causing the ocean to warm and become more acidic, and pushing species to the brink of extinction. Yet our ocean and coastal ecosystems are also resilient and hold tremendous promise as a natural climate solution.”
Bonamici knows her carbon fluxes and flows:
Healthy blue carbon ecosystems, like mangroves, tidal marshes, seagrasses, and kelp forests, can remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it for centuries to millennia in stems, branches, leaves, roots, and soils. According to the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy, the protection and restoration of coastal blue carbon ecosystems could prevent approximately one gigaton of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere by 2050. These ecosystems also provide habitat for fisheries, protect shorelines from storms and sea level rise, and improve water quality.
Bonamici’s bill summary says her blue carbon bill will:
• Strengthen federal research on blue carbon.
• Create a national map and inventory of coastal blue carbon ecosystems and their sequestration potential.
• Improve protections for existing coastal blue carbon ecosystems.
• Restore and expand degraded coastal blue carbon ecosystems.
• Assess the containment of carbon dioxide in the deep seafloor environment.
• Provide for the long-term stewardship and standardization of coastal blue carbon data.
The bill is not all that is needed, but it is a very good start.
And Another Thing
Representative Bonamici and the rest of the Oregon congressional delegation—save for the one House member whose district is not subject to tidal influence (and—perhaps it’s not just a coincidence—is of a different political party)—have been steadfast in opposing oil and gas exploitation off the Oregon coast (see my Public Lands Blog post “US Pacific Northwest Offshore Oil and Gas: A Waste of Time, Ocean and Coast”).
May I recommend that it’s time for the Oregon congressional delegation to introduce legislation to establish a national marine sanctuary offshore Oregon (see my Public Lands Blog post “The National Marine Sanctuary System, Actual and Potential”). Such a sanctuary would prevent the release of carbon into the atmosphere by keeping offshore fossil fuels safely underground. It would also be helpful in conserving and restoring blue carbon.
Figure 4. US national marine sanctuaries. There is a conspicuous gap in the northeastern Pacific from the Olympic Coast to the Greater Farallones, which includes the entirety of the Oregon coast. Source: NOAA.
Go, Suzanne!
Those in her congressional district can email her (to avoid email overload, the webpage screens out everyone else). As a constituent, please thank her for her blue carbon bill and other efforts to conserve and restore the oceans, estuaries, and coasts, and the climate. Those outside her district will just have to pray or chant affirmations that she will be successful in her efforts for blue carbon.
For More Information
• Oscar Serrano et al., “Conservation of Blue Carbon Ecosystems for Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation,” Chapter 28 of Coastal Wetlands: An Integrated Ecosystem Approach, 2019.
• Laura Zinke, “The Colours of Carbon,” Nature Reviews Earth & Environment 1, 141 (2020).
• National Ocean Service, What Is Blue Carbon?
• National Ocean Service, Coastal Blue Carbon
• Blue Carbon Initiative, Mitigating Climate Change Through Coastal Ecosystem Management