Duke Energy Participates in Re-Forestation Effort
In 2003, Duke Energy and 24 other leading U.S. energy companies established a voluntary consortium that has committed more than $3 million to develop six bottomland hardwood restoration projects in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley (LMAV) area of Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas.
The PowerTree Carbon Co. LLC addresses carbon dioxide concerns by planting seedlings in six locations in the three states. Trees are often referred to as “carbon sinks” because they take carbon dioxide out of the air and sequester it in living plant tissue.
When fully mature, the new forests will have captured more than 1.6 million tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. They will also provide critical habitat for birds and other wildlife and improve soil and water quality.
The LMAV once contained nearly 22 million acres of highly productive bottomland hardwoods. Today, only about 4 million acres remain. Thanks to the work by Duke Energy with the PowerTree Carbon Co., that number is on the rise.