PALM SPRINGS DESERT SUN - For many, planting trees has become synonymous with fighting climate change. But in the hot and arid desert, it isn't that simple.
A new project from The Center for Conservation Biology at the University of California, Riverside will assess how local land management agencies can best conserve land that uses the desert as a carbon sink. The Coachella Valley Desert Climate Resilience Initiative will result in a mapping tool that can be used to prioritize land acquisitions.
"When we're looking at the desert and reasons to conserve places in the desert, in addition to conserving for biodiversity and wildlife, we also have to think about how we are affecting the carbon storage in the soil," said Lynn Sweet, research ecologist with The Center for Conservation Biology.
"It's really more of a global concern, it's an example of thinking globally and acting locally, of us doing our part by protecting our carbon stocks in the desert," Sweet continued.