Carbon Cutters on Edge: Hoping California’s Cap-and-Trade Program Survives

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Workers measure the girth of trees on forest land owned by the Yurok. Photo courtesy of the California Air Resources Board

By Julie Cart, CALmatters.org

Salmon — made possible by the rivers they run in and the forest canopy above them — are the lifeblood of the Yurok Tribe. The native word for salmon, Ney-puy, means “that which is eaten,” and the iconic fish and its habitat sustain California’s largest tribe in ways that are both literal and metaphorical.

How this tribe, from its rugged stronghold on the Redwood coast of Humboldt County, became an early adopter of California’s cutting-edge carbon offset trade program speaks to the tribe’s ambitions for its future and the state’s ambitions for its signature environmental policy.

Read the complete story at CALmatters.org.

For more information on California’s cap-and-trade program, read the 2013 San Francisco Public Press Special Report on Climate Change

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