Land conservation projects protect the resource base and find the best ways to use it.  This includes efforts to keep soil in place and out of lakes, wetlands, rivers, canals, bays, and the ocean. Preservation of agriculture lands is a priority. 

SFRC&D is beginning a project with Miami-Dade County officials and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on mitigation projects to remove sediment from secondary canals and restore canal embankments.

SFRC&D is also investigating carbon sequestration programs that allow land owners to receive credits for grasslands and forests.  These credits are exchanged like commodities and help reduce global warming. 

SFRC&D is also working with the University of Florida on the introduction of a new type of perennial peanut to be used as an alternative to grass.  This type of peanut does not produce the nuts we are all familiar with, but it shares many of its other attributes.  This new type is low-growing, tolerant of drought, non-climbing and it is a legume, so it helps fix nitrogen in the soil.  Using perennial peanut along roadsides and greenbelts could save millions of dollars a year in mowing costs alone.  Because it is low maintenance, it will also save gasoline and water and reduce the use of herbicides and fertilizers.

Carbon Sequestration 
 
The tremendous increase in the production of greenhouse gases in the last century, primarily due to the burning of fossil fuels, has led to a global initiative to capture and store carbon dioxide.  The term used for capturing and storing carbon is carbon sequestration.  The worldwide goal is to have a zero or negative carbon balance, meaning that the amount of carbon released must be equal to or less than the amount of carbon sequestered.  Some ways to store carbon include planting trees and allowing grasslands to remain undisturbed.  Once the amount of carbon sequestered is measured, landowners can sell their stores of carbon to entities that release carbon in a manner similar to commodities exchanges.

Global warming became a serious issue in the late 1980's.  Over the last 100 years, the average temperature of the earth has increased by about 0.5° C and is forecasted to rise another 1 - 3.5°C over the next 100 years.  This temperature escalation is predicted to create serious climatic changes including rising oceans, more forest fires, more hurricanes and tsunamis, loss of some species of plants and animals that are unable to adapt quickly enough to the change, expanding deserts and malaria outbreaks spreading farther from the equator. 

Global warming is caused by the collection of gases in the atmosphere, including carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, ozone, chlorofluorocarbons, hydroflourocarbons and perfluorinated carbon.  Without these gases, life as we know it would not be able to exist on earth.  The gases help hold in the sun's warmth.  However, the gases are thickening at an extremely fast rate, causing the temperature to gradually rise.  The Union of Concerned Scientists estimates that carbon dioxide is responsible for up to 70% of global warming.

Currently, the focus of carbon sequestration is on forests and tree planting.  However, the U.S. is covered by three times more grass and herbaceous cover than forests.  Grass and herbaceous cover store the carbon below the surface and are less susceptible to catastrophes such as fire or windstorms.    The SFRC&D is in the planning stages of beginning a Carbon Information and Technology Exchange.   The purpose of the exchange is to disseminate information, perform research and investigate the establishment of a trading market for sequestered carbon.