Greenhouse Gas Monitoring in the Sierra Nevada

Signs of a healthy meadow (from caltrout.org)

Signs of an unhealthy meadow (from caltrout.org)

As an AmeriCorps member with American Rivers, I periodically get to go out in the field and do conservation-related work. One ongoing project that I am involved with is the greenhouse gas monitoring happening in several different meadows of the Tahoe National Forest. 

This project aims to measure greenhouse gas emissions and carbon sequestration in meadows that are in the middle of fairly intensive restoration projects. In order to measure the greenhouse gases, we set up plastic chambers directly into the meadow grasses. After getting our assorted data sheets and instruments organized, we each cycle through a 45-minute monitoring period with our assigned plots of the chambers. The chambers have soft sections of the lid, which we pierce with a syringe needle to draw up gases. The big-picture goal of this project is provide data to show that meadows are effective at sequestering carbon. This will help government agencies and organizations procure funding to further study and restore these areas.

This past month's monitoring posed a particular challenge: winter came to the Sierra, which was a welcome sight for Californians who have weathered the multi-year drought. We navigated icy mountain roads and managed to still conduct our field work while enjoying two sunny, snowy days. Check out the photos below to get an idea of how the monitoring works. 

Using large backpacks to carry in the chambers used for gas monitoring 

Sometimes birthdays fall on field work days, so we bring cake and candles and celebrate in the snow! 

We use a needle and syringe to collect gas from each chamber.