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When starting a Carbon Farm Plan, it is important it is important to view your landscape as a whole and consider how land use over time has helped transform the landscape into what it is today. During your site visits, take detailed notes and map out what you are seeing on the land and hearing from the land manager. Take note of distinct ecological sites (ES) within the landscape. An ES, as defined by the Inter-Agency Task Force (linked in resources tab), is a conceptual division of the landscape based on recurring soil, landform, geological and climate characteristics that differs from other kinds of land in its ability to produce distinctive kinds and amounts of vegetation and in its ability to respond to management actions and natural disturbances. The Ecological Site framework can help both the planner and producer understand the similarities and differences, limits and opportunities, for carbon capture and management at different locations across the farm or ranch landscape.
Ecological site delineation is not essential for carbon farm planning, but it can be a useful concept in helping the planner to recognize and understand variability in carbon capture potential across a heterogeneous landscape.
a. If you have the ability, you may find it helpful to make your own ES map. Include Soil map unit, Slope class, and Aspect class as minimum site delineation criteria. Use elevation as well, if elevation differences are helpful in explaining site differences across your landscape. An example ecological site map from the Gilardi Family Farm Carbon Farm Plan is displayed to the right. The full plan is included in the next module.
This map shows ecological sites, defined by slops, soil and aspect variables, overlaid on an aerial image of the subject farm.
b. NRCS ES delineations may or may not be available for your area, and may or may not be helpful in identifying important differences across your subject property. Generally, in California, NRCS Ecological Site Descriptions are at too coarse a scale to be useful for farm-level planning, though they may be helpful for recognizing differences that may be important for carbon farm planning across larger rangeland properties.
c. Build a table to display your ecological site information, if any. An example ecological site table can be found in the Case Studies in Module 3.
Questions to ask yourself when approaching a project landscape:
Questions to ask yourself when approaching a project landscape:
Using the hotspots on the image below, review the essential questions for reading a landscape.
Additional questions to ask yourself when approaching a project landscape:
Additional questions to ask yourself when approaching a project landscape:
Additional questions to ask yourself when approaching a project landscape:
What are the types of land use on and adjacent to the planning area?
Understand seasonal influences, Does this site get a lot of rain, is it seasonally hot and dry? Is it subject to flooding, seasonal drought, etc.
What are the available water resources on the farm?
Think about how to optimize the landscape's capacity for carbon drawdown while helping address additional resource concerns and supporting the producer’s management objectives.
Remember to work with Nature not against Her.
Lynette Niebrugge, Carbon Cycle Institute
‼️ Stop and Think: What other questions can you think of to facilitate reading the landscape?
A Hypothetical Carbon Farm Plan: Allee Demonstration Farm, Iowa State University
A Hypothetical Carbon Farm Plan: Allee Demonstration Farm, Iowa State University
The Carbon Farm Planning Curriculum Team developed a skeleton Carbon Farm Plan for the Allee Demonstration Farm at Iowa State University to guide users through the stages of developing a plan. Throughout module 2, we will refer back to this farm and plan. While historic management and some current management practices contained in this example Carbon Farm Plan hold true to the actual history of the Farm, creative liberties based on regional averages and historic data were taken when making certain management assumptions. These assumptions are indicated with an *asterisk*.
Location of the Iowa State University Allee Demonstration Farm
Location
Location
Located just south of Newell, in Buena Vista County, Iowa, the Allee Demonstration Farm consists of 160 acres of mostly level terrain. The landscape includes several depressions, low knobs, and the following soil types:
Clarion- a well-drained, fine, loamy mix
Nicollet- a poorly-drained, chalky loam mix
Canisteo- a poorly-drained, chalky loam mix found around depressions
Initial Land Use
Initial Land Use
The 160-acre site is operated by Iowa State University. Since 1958, the Allee Demonstration Farm has operated as a small scale demonstration farm focused on modest-sized, sustainable, family-based farming. Management includes the following two year corn-soybean crop rotation*:
*Year 1 Corn: Planted early May, harvested late October, intensive tillage, fertilizer-Anhydrous Ammonia, no irrigation, no manure/compost, no liming, no burning
*Year 2 Soybean: Planted early May, harvested late October, reduced tillage, no fertilizer, no irrigation, no manure/compost, no liming, no burning
Producer's Goals
Producer's Goals
Improve soil health through increased carbon sequestration
Reduce artificial inputs
Increase biodiversity
Reduce greenhouse gas emissions
Increase overall farm production
Increase farm resilience to climate change
Reading the Landscape Example 1
Reading the Landscape Example 1
The map to the right is an interactive overview of the Allee Demonstration Carbon Farm. For this hypothetical carbon farm plan, the curriculum team used Google Maps to make observations. Mapping through remote sensing should not replace on the ground site visits, but can be invaluable in initial site assessment and identification of areas that merit particular attention during site visits. Click on a few of the points to learn more through reading the landscape. For more of a challenge, use the legend to remove all layers except the farm boundary and see if you can make your own observations.
To view the entire legend, select the square with an arrow icon in the top left corner
To enlarge the map (full screen), select the unconnected square icon in the top right corner
To view each pin, click on the pin within the map
You can view the various layers, such as Reading the Landscape and conservation practice standards specific to the Allee Demonstration Carbon Farm Plan, by selecting the arrow in the square in the top left corner of the map above.
Reading the Landscape Example 2
Reading the Landscape Example 2
Guido Frosini of True Grass Farms joins Dr. Jeff Creque, Director of Rangeland and Agroecosystem Management at the Carbon Cycle Institute, to reflect on the establishment of a silvopasture in a field historically managed for annual hay. Standing in the now perennial grazed pasture adjacent to a young oak, Guido points out the windswept shape of the tree, noting that first planting a quick growing windbreak could have provided protection for the oaks during their establishment. As Guido walks the space between the oaks to move the electric livestock fence, he highlights his active participation in the landscape and his attention to potential opportunities for increased carbon sequestration. As a Carbon Farmer, he recognizes his efforts establishing oaks on the land will lead to increased biodiversity, increased potential for fog capture, increased soil moisture, and increased shade and forage for his livestock.
‼️ Stop and think: What has Guido Frosini learned from development of his carbon farm plan? How does his experience illustrate how a carbon farm plan is a “living document”?
Reading the Landscape and Carbon Farming Practices
Reading the Landscape and Carbon Farming Practices
Using the (7) hotspots on the graphic below, investigate the carbon farming practices applied to the cartoon farms.
‼️ Stop and Think: Can you identify other potential carbon farming practices that might be implemented on this cartoon farm? How might carbon farming practice choices differ across different regions?
❓Check your knowledge!
❓Check your knowledge!
When reading the landscape for the purposes of informing a carbon farm plan, planners assess ….(select 5 that apply)
a. Soil types
b. Landscape positions
c. Climate characteristics
d. Past and current management
e. Vegetation types and condition
f. None of the above
Both different ecological sites and different management systems can present limits and opportunities for carbon capture and management. [True/False]
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Discussion board: If you have any questions throughout Module 2, please use the discussion board below to post.
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