USAJOBS – Fire Management Specialist (Prescribed Fire and Fuels)

USAJOBS – Fire Management Specialist (Prescribed Fire and Fuels)

Duties

  • Individual will be a part of a research team investigating barriers to implementation of the wildfire crisis strategy.
  • Provides program management oversight for a high complexity fire/fuels management program, based on the IFPM complexity analysis rating factors.
  • Provides professional expertise in the development and implementation of multiple resource objectives. Evaluates individual fuels treatments, effectiveness of the overall program and makes recommendations for improvement.
  • Implements and administers prescribed fire activities, wildland fire use, and fuels management activities.
  • evelops fuels treatment alternatives adhering to applicable laws, regulations, policies, and guidelines.
  • Serves as a member of an interdisciplinary team planning, developing, and implementing land management plans, compliance documents, and agreements.
  • Performs fiscal analysis, formulates the annual fuels management budget, and tracks program expenditures.
  • Ensures welfare and safety in all aspects of project implementation and identifies training needs in fire and fuels management.
  • Participates in preparedness reviews, proficiency checks and drills, safety sessions, and after action reviews.
  • Coordinates multi-disciplinary field studies related to fuels management program issues to determine effectiveness of treatments.
  • Coordinates with the next higher organizational level, other agencies, cooperators, and stakeholders to develop interagency fuels strategies and represents the organization in multi-agency fuels management activities.

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

  • Must be a U.S. Citizen or National.
  • Males born after 12/31/1959 must be Selective Service registered or exempt.
  • Subject to satisfactory adjudication of background investigation and/or fingerprint check.
  • Successful completion of one year probationary period, unless previously served.
  • Per Public Law 104-134 all Federal employees are required to have federal payments made by direct deposit to their financial institution.
  • Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, visit e-verify.gov
  • Must be 18 years of age.
  • This is a Test Designated Position. You will be tested for illegal drugs prior to appointment and randomly thereafter. Appointment and continued employment is conditional on negative results.
  • Must pass the Work Capacity Test for certain Interagency Fire Program Management or Fire Program Management positions.
  • Minimum of 90 days of wildland firefighting experience is required.
  • Willing to live/work in remote locations (volatile/unpredictable).
  • Some Fire positions may have Conditions of Employment such as: a valid state driver’s license; a commercial driver’s license (CDL); pre-appointment and random drug testing; or a physical or medical examination.
  • There may be additional Conditions of Employment not listed here, however applicants will be notified of any specific requirements at the time a tentative job offer is made.

Qualifications
In order to qualify, you must meet the eligibility and qualifications requirements as defined below by the closing date of the announcement. For more information on the qualifications for this position, visit the Office of Personnel Management’s General Schedule Qualification Standards.

Your application and resume must clearly show that you possess the experience requirements. Transcripts must be provided for qualifications based on education. Provide course descriptions as necessary.

To receive consideration for this position, you must provide updated required documents and meet all qualification requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

Basic Requirement:

Degree: Biological sciences, agriculture, natural resources management, chemistry or related disciplines appropriate to the position.

-OR-

Combination of education and experience: Courses equivalent to a major course of study in biological sciences, agriculture or natural resources management, chemistry or at least 24 semester hours in biological sciences, natural resources, wildland fire management, forestry, or agriculture equivalent to a major field of study, plus appropriate experience or additional education that is comparable to that normally acquired through the successful completion of a full 4-year course of study in the biological sciences, agriculture, or natural resources.

In addition to meeting the basic requirement, you must also possess experience and/or directly related education in the amounts listed below.

Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community, student, social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

Specialized Experience Requirement:

GS-12: Applicants must display one year specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-11 grade level. Examples of specialized experience are: Reviewing and evaluating fire management plans for ecological soundness and technical adequacy; conducting field inspections before and after prescribed or wildland fires to determine if resource objectives were achieved and/or to evaluate the effectiveness of actions taken; and developing analyses on the ecological role of fire and its use and/or exclusion, and smoke management.

Selective Placement Factors:

A minimum 90 days experience performing on-the-line (Primary/Rigorous) wildland fire suppression duties as a member of an organized fire suppression crew or comparable unit that utilized knowledge of wildland fire suppression, containment or control techniques and practices under various conditions. This experience must be documented with specific dates in the online application or resume.

FIREFIGHTER RETIREMENT COVERAGE: This is a secondary position covered under the special retirement provisions of 5 USC 8336(c) for the Civil Service Retirement System and of 5 USC 8412(d) for the Federal Employees Retirement System.

WORK CAPACITY TEST (WCT) for Wildland Firefighters: This position participates in wildland firefighting activities. Based on the type of work performed, TAKING and PASSING the WCT at the ARDUOUS, MODERATE, or LIGHT level is a condition of employment.

TIME IN GRADE REQUIREMENT: If you are a current federal employee in the General Schedule (GS) pay plan and applying for a promotion opportunity, you must meet time-in-grade (TIG) requirements of 52 weeks of service at the next lower grade level in the normal line of progression for the position being filled. This requirement must be met by the closing date of this announcement.

Additional information
Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) or Reemployment Priority List (RPL): To exercise selection priority for this vacancy, CTAP/RPL candidates must meet the basic eligibility requirements and all selective factors. CTAP candidates must be rated and determined to be well qualified (or above) based on an evaluation of the competencies listed in the How You Will Be Evaluated section. When assessed through a score-based category rating method, CTAP applicants must receive a rating of at least 85 out of a possible 100.

Land Management Workforce Flexibility Act (LMWFA) provides current or former temporary and term employees the opportunity to compete for permanent competitive service positions. Individuals must have more than 24 months of service without a break between appointments of two or more years and the last temporary or term appointment must have been with the Forest Service. Service must be in the competitive service and have been at a successful level of performance or better. Part-time and intermittent service will be credited only for time actually worked. Non-pay status such as leave without pay is credited for up to six months in a calendar year; anything beyond six months is not credited. Applicants are responsible for providing sufficient information/documentation to determine if the 24 month criteria is met.

The duty station for this position will be considered REMOTE and will be confirmed at time of selection. Salary range as shown is the locality pay Rest of U.S. (RUS). Pay rates vary by location. Please visit the Office of Personnel Management’s website for additional information on pay rates.

This is a Detail/Temporary Promotion not-to-exceed (NTE) 1 year but may be extended additional 2 years for a total of 3 years, or may end earlier due to lack of work or funds, or at the discretion of the Hiring Manager. The employee will be returned to a position that is comparable to his or her permanent position (i.e., same series, grade, and duty location) and your salary will be adjusted to the grade level and step that you would normally have been in had you remained in your position.
This position is eligible for telework.

This is a non-bargaining unit position.

Forest Service daycare facilities and Government Housing are not available.

Record wildfire burns at least 40,000 acres on Hawaii’s Big Island, sets up mudslide danger

Washington Post
By Paulina Firozi

A brush fire that scorched at least 40,000 acres on Hawaii’s Big Island is the largest ever on the island, officials said, and the area burned may pose a risk for mudslides if there are heavy downpours in coming months.

Mandatory evacuations forced residents in three communities out of their homes over the weekend, but the orders were lifted late Sunday as conditions stabilized.

Cyrus Johnasen, a spokesperson for the Hawaii County mayor’s office, said Tuesday that the confirmed area burned remained around 40,000 acres. Johnasen told The Washington Post that the fire was 75 percent contained, and that officials expect the blaze to be 85 to 90 percent contained by the end of Tuesday, local time. Officials say that the fire is no longer a threat to residences or homes but that there is concern about an effect on forest reserves and species habitats.

He also warned of “after effects” even when the flames are curbed. For the next two or three months, heavy rains could cause mudslides, he said.

“All the areas that have burned, the soil no longer has roots to hold it in place,” he said. “ … So that 40,000 acres of burned soil could translate to mudslides anywhere along the west side of the island, resulting in potential road closure or hazardous conditions.”

He said residents should be cautious on roads if those heavy rains arrive.

Maui residents rail against spike in tourism during water shortage: ‘Stop coming’ to Hawaii

The fire ignited amid recent drought conditions in parts of the state of Hawaii. Nearly 60 percent of the state is experiencing at least moderate drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Much of the Big Island is abnormally dry or experiencing moderate drought.

A National Weather Service forecast from early July warned of “increasing drought conditions” in parts of the state during the summer.

“It’s important to note that by no means are we out of this drought,” Johnasen said. “The threat of this particular fire is over, but folks should keep in mind who live in those dry areas that more forest fires and brush fires could spark over the course of the summer. We want folks to remain cautious and remain alert and have an evacuation plan in the event something becomes more of a threat to homes.”

Exceptional heat and drought also have created tinderbox conditions elsewhere, fueling wildfires across the western United States this year. The National Interagency Fire Center lists 97 active large fires burning in the country, mostly in Western states.

Clay Trauernicht, part of the extension faculty in ecosystems and fire at University of Hawaii at Manoa, said fires in Hawaii are fueled by widespread tropical grasses.

“That’s what drives our fire risk here,” Trauernicht told The Post.

“We’ve been in pretty deep drought conditions, especially in that part of the Big Island,” he added. “The other thing that hammers us is we’ve had an especially wet wintertime.”

Wet winters with excess rainfall lead to more tropical grass growing, accumulating more fuels that later dry out and can increase the chance of fires.

“What we’re seeing is that perfect one-two punch,” Trauernicht said.

He said there’s also been a long-term trend of grasslands expanding, in part driven by a reduction in agriculture and ranching operations over the past two or three decades. With less land under production, grasses have further filled in.

Trauernicht said there are occasional lightning strike-sparked fires, brush fires and fires from active lava flows. In 2018, an eruption from the Kilauea volcano on the Big Island devastated surrounding areas. Fissures opened up, spewing lava into residential roads and destroying structures in its path.

But a large majority of fires are started by people, Trauernicht said. “Human ignitions coupled with an increasing amount of nonnative, fire-prone grasses and shrubs and a warming, drying climate have greatly increased the wildfire problem,” notes the Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization website.

Roth pointed fingers at the drought as firefighters fought the record blaze in Hawaii County.

“With the drought conditions that we’ve had, it is of concern,” the mayor said, according to the Associated Press. “You see something like this where you’re putting thousands of homes in danger, it’s very concerning.”

Rain percolates in Kona coffee belt, not so much elsewhere

Hawaii Tribune-Herald
By John Burnett

For much of May, most of Hawaii Island’s rain gauges were measuring near- to below-average amounts of rainfall, as the National Weather Service in Honolulu predicted in its dry season outlook for May through September.

There was one notable exception — the Kona coffee belt, which experiences its wet season in the summer. That said, it was even wetter than usual.

And one coffee belt gauge, Kealakekua, posted its highest May rainfall total on record, 12.86 inches, 240% of its average May rainfall total, and over 3 inches more than the previous May record, 9.76 inches.

“It didn’t just squeak by on the record; it was a significant margin, so it’s pretty notable,” Kevin Kodama, NWS senior service hydrologist, said Thursday. “And it wasn’t just that site. All of the gauges in that area picked up a pretty good amount. You look at the percent of averages, it was all at, above, or just below 200% of average.”

Kealakekua also had the Big Island’s highest one-day rainfall total of 2.28 inches on May 3.

The other three official coffee belt gauges Kodama referred to are: Kainaliu, which registered 10.57 inches, 204% of its May norm; Honaunau, which measure 9.33 inches, or 196% of average; and Waiaha, which had 7.94 inches, 170% of its usual May.

One unofficial leeward gauge, at Holualoa, in upslope North Kona, tallied 14.99 inches.

“May is just getting things started. Actually, the peak doesn’t occur until later,” Kodama said of the summer wet season for leeward slopes. “So it’s pretty early to be ramped up like this. Overall, we’ve had some instability, but they’ve been getting rain, like, everyday — and in decent amounts.”

Not all Kona locations shared in the rainfall bounty, however.

Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport at Keahole, where tourists on the tarmac are almost always greeted by sunshine, registered just 0.9 inches for the month, 45% of its usual 2 inches. Puuanahulu was even drier at 0.77 inches, just 34% of its May average of 2.25 inches.

Windward monthly totals were mostly in the range of 60% to 100% of average. Glenwood, in the upper Puna rainforest, had the highest monthly total of 13.74 inches, 86% percent of average.

The rain gauge at Hilo International Airport tallied 6.17 inches, just 76% of its May average of 8.12 inches. Due to a wetter-than-average rainy season, however, the airport’s year-to-date total of 69.56 inches is 134% of its average for the year’s first five months, 51.91 inches.

Piihonua, in the foothills above Hilo town, hit double-digit rainfall in May, checking in at 10.78 inches, 80% of its May norm of 13.48 inches. Piihonua also has the distinction of being the first official NWS rain gauge on the Big Island to crack triple digits for the year, with 100.98 inches of rain, 31% above its year-to-date average.

“The trades have been there most of the month but it’s not been super wet. It’s been kind of what we were expecting,” Kodama said. “… The way drought manifests itself on the windward side of the Big Island, windward slopes, anyway, is you’ll get rain every day or almost every day. But it’s just that the amount of rain is lower than what you’d expect normally. And that’s what’s been occurring.”

And while most of East Hawaii has remained green, so far, other parts of the island are slipping into drought conditions. In his last drought statement, dated May 8, Kodama wrote “With the exception of the Kona slopes of the Big Island, leeward areas of the state may see increasing drought conditions during the summer.”

That assessment is borne out in the numbers.

The Waimea Plain gauge received just 0.91 inches for the month, just a third of its usual 2.61 inches, bringing it to 8.8% for the year, just 40% of its norm of 22.08 inches. And Honokaa also got about a third of its normal May rainfall, 2.3 inches, bringing its total for the year to 40.13 inches, almost 20% drier than normal.

“It’s been creeping along in leeward Kohala and up in the Pohakuloa region it’s been drying out,” Kodama said. “I just found out (Thursday) that even the Honokaa area is drying out. Parts of (Hawaii Volcanoes) National Park are getting dry, too — the windward side not so much, but more in the lee of Kilauea volcano it’s been drying out.

Experts warn Hawaii summer drought ‘could be worse than last year’

KHON2
by Jenn Boneza

Less than normal rainfall and higher temperatures may cause severe drought conditions in summer 2021.

Some places are already seeing the impact and experts say it will only get worse.

Hot, sunny days are great while at the beach, but too much sunshine and not enough rain for prolonged periods of time can cause problems — especially for farmers and ranchers.

Be prepared for another dry, hot summer. Weather experts are expecting below average rainfall.

Hawaii is seeing abnormally dry conditions on every island across the state and some Leeward areas are experiencing moderate drought conditions already.

According to NOAA Hydrologist Kevin Kodama, two counties will be hit the hardest.

“Hawaii County and Maui County would have the quickest impacts and probably the most severe impact, especially early on,” Kodama said. “I would anticipate that based on the climate outlook, climate model projections, that it could be worse than last year.”

Rep. Lynn DeCoite (D) who represents Molokai, Lanai and parts of Maui, says she can see it already.

“It’s bad. And we’re in May,” Rep. DeCoite said. “Pastures are drying up.”

Rep. DeCoite, who lives on Molokai, says it is concerning. She does not want a repeat of summer 2020 when hundreds of axis deer were found dead of starvation along roadways due to overpopulation and lack of food.

The Hawaii Cattleman’s Council managing director Nicole Galase says ranchers are already preparing for the worst.

“Ranchers are monitoring so many factors when it comes to their operation,” Galase said. “So if a drought is coming, they are preparing ahead of time.”

If there is not enough forage on the ground, they purchase supplemental feed, which she said can get very expensive.

“On top of making sure that the cattle are fed, another important factor when drought comes up is that the ranchers are always looking ahead to make sure that that they’re grazing down the forage so that there’s not a big fuel load for when those dry seasons come so they can prevent wildfires before they start,” she explained.

According to Agriculture Committee vice chair Rep. Amy Perruso, some farmers are more vulnerable than others.

“Small farmers are the most vulnerable,” Perruso said. “Because in my experience, their margins are the smallest. And they can’t really afford the kinds of losses that might come with drought.”

Consumers will feel it as well.

“You’re going to see prices jump in vegetables, fruits, beef,” Rep. DeCoite explained. “We will be depending upon our imports more highly.”

Water will also be an issue as Hawaii moves into the summer months.

Experts are suggesting the people who rely on water catchment systems for their water to begin conserving now.

“Stop washing your cars and watering your yards, it needs to be used for the crops at this time,” Rep. DeCoite said.

A Fifth of Food-Output Growth Has Been Lost to Climate Change

Bloomberg Green
By Breanna T Bradham –

Climate change has been holding back food production for decades, with a new study showing that about 21% of growth for agricultural output was lost since the 1960s.

That’s equal to losing the last seven years of productivity growth, according to research led by Cornell University and published in the journal Nature Climate Change. The study was funded by a unit of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The revelation comes as the United Nations’ World Food Programme warns of a “looming catastrophe” with about 34 million people globally on the brink of famine. The group has cited climate change as a major factor contributing to the sharp increase in hunger around the world. Food inflation is also on the rise as farmers deal with the impact of extreme weather at a time of robust demand.

This is the first study to look at how climate change has historically affected agricultural production on a global scale, using econometrics and climate models to figure out how much of the sector’s total productivity has been affected, across crops and livestock.

The loss of productivity comes even as billions has been poured into improving agricultural production through the development of new seeds, sophisticated farm machinery and other technological advances.

“Even though globally agriculture is more productive, that greater productivity on average doesn’t translate into more climate resilience,” said Ariel Ortiz-Bobea, an author of the paper and associate professor at Cornell’s Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management.

The damages to productivity growth aren’t evenly spread across regions. Warmer areas — especially those in the tropics — are more detrimentally affected. Ortiz-Bobea said that coincides with many countries where agriculture makes up a bigger share of the economy.

He was also warned that current research into improving production may not enough consider the pace of climate change.

“I worry that we’re breeding or preparing ourselves for the climate we’re in now, not what is coming up in the next couple of decades.”

Planting crops — and carbon, too

Washington Post
Story by Gabriel Popkin –

Maryland farmer Trey Hill pulled in a healthy haul of corn last fall and then immediately planted rye, turnips, clover and other species, which are now spreading a lush green carpet over the soil. While his grandfather, who started the family farm along the Chesapeake Bay, always planted in the spring in a clean field, in Hill’s approach to farming, “you never want to see the ground.”

As the winter cover crops grow, they will feed microbes and improve the soil’s health, which Hill believes will eventually translate into higher yields of the crops that provide his income: corn, soybean and wheat.

But just as importantly, they will pull down carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it in the ground. Hill is at the cutting edge of what many hope will provide not just a more nature-friendly way of farming, but a powerful new climate solution.

In early 2020, he became the first seller in a privately run farmer-focused marketplace that paid him $115,000 for practices that, over the past few years, had sequestered just over 8,000 tons of carbon in the soil. The money came from corporations and individuals who want to offset carbon dioxide produced by their activities. Hill used the proceeds to buy equipment he hopes will allow him to squirrel away even more of the planet-warming gas.

If farmers throughout the world adopted similar “regenerative” methods, experts estimate they could sequester a sizable chunk of the world’s carbon emissions. The idea has been endorsed by soil scientists, a slew of food industry giants and, recently, President Biden.

But some doubt that farmed soils can reliably store carbon long enough to make a difference for the climate — or that changes in soil carbon can be accurately yet affordably measured. Others worry voluntary measures such as soil sequestration could make a polluting food and agriculture industry appear environmentally friendly while forestalling stronger climate action.

Researchers and companies are now racing to reduce the scientific uncertainties and win over skeptics.

Many scientists are confident that farming can be adapted to build carbon into soils, said Deborah Bossio, a soil scientist at the Nature Conservancy, an environmental organization. “We know how to do it,” she said.

Agriculture has done a masterful job of feeding the world’s burgeoning population. It has been less wonderful for the climate. For thousands of years, plowing has mixed underground carbon-containing compounds with atmospheric oxygen, creating carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas that is driving global warming. Researchers estimate that farming throughout history has unearthed roughly 133 billion tons of carbon, an amount equal to almost 14 years of global emissions at current levels.

To prevent climate change from irrevocably damaging human civilization and the world’s ecosystems, humans must reduce carbon emissions enough to prevent the average global temperature from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, scientists say. Some areas of the planet have already passed that threshold.

[Dangerous new hot zones are spreading around the world]

As scientists came to appreciate the threat posed by climate change over the past few decades, some wondered whether carbon already in the atmosphere could be captured and returned to the soil. A team led by Bossio estimated in early 2020 that if soil was protected and replenished globally, it could provide nearly 10 percent of the carbon dioxide drawdown needed to avert near-term climate catastrophe.

Soil carbon building practices, loosely gathered under the term “regenerative agriculture,” have been practiced for decades, or centuries in some places. Planting without tilling the soil took off after the devastating Dust Bowl in the 1930s spurred a search for ways to avert further soil loss, and the practice now includes more than a fifth of U.S. farmland. Maryland has paid farmers to plant cover crops since the 1990s to stanch the flow of nitrogen into the Chesapeake Bay. Some livestock producers rotate animals on pastures of grasses and legumes, whose roots pull carbon underground. And though rare in the United States today, farmers elsewhere in the world mix trees into fields and pastures.

Hill, who farms 10,000 acres, admitted he got into cover crops purely because the state paid him. “We had no intent of doing it for climate,” he said.

But he has since become a true believer. He now mixes rye and other fast-growing grasses with legumes such as clover and lentils, whose roots host nitrogen-fixing bacteria. He also plants root crops such as radishes and turnips to loosen and aerate the soil. While most farmers kill their cover crops in March, as soon as the state allows, Hill lets the plants grow taller than he is, to maximize root mass and carbon gains. He kills them just before planting his cash crop in May.

“The longer the cover crop is alive, the better off we all are,” he said.

There are barriers that keep more farmers from following his lead, Hill said. He has had to buy specialized equipment, and climate-friendly farming hasn’t yet translated to higher yields or premium prices.

“It’s a b—- to farm this way,” he said. Turnips can get stuck in his planting equipment, costing his team valuable time, for example. “It makes life a lot more difficult, and not necessarily more profitable.”

Hill sells most of his corn to the chicken producer Mountaire Farms, which pays him the same market price other suppliers get. If farmers were paid for the carbon accumulating in their soils, they would have greater incentive to adopt climate-friendly practices, Hill said.

But implementing that idea is challenging. Carbon accumulates slowly in soil, and past attempts to pay farmers for it have failed when the costs of verifying carbon gains exceeded what buyers were willing to pay. Backers of new, private-sector carbon markets hope that computer models fed by data from farm fields, satellites and handheld carbon sensors can measure and predict soil carbon gains more cheaply and reliably.

Hill connected with one of those markets, a Seattle-based tech start-up called Nori. After lengthy negotiations, credits representing carbon stored in some of Hill’s fields went on sale in October 2019 at $16.50 a ton — around the most an acre of his farmland might capture in a year, Hill said. Buyers included the e-commerce company Shopify, Arizona State University and individuals looking to offset the carbon their activities produce.

Nori eschews traditional soil tests, which can cost thousands of dollars for a large farm, and instead relies on third-party audits and a U.S. Agriculture Department computer model called COMET-Farm that estimates greenhouse gas emissions from farms.

Nori has competitors. One is Indigo Ag, a Boston-based ag-tech company that has lined up corporate customers including JPMorgan Chase, Boston Consulting Group and Dogfish Head to buy credits for carbon stored in more than a million acres of farmland across 21 states. After farmers upload their 2020 data, Indigo will calculate the amount of carbon stored and verify the numbers with a third party, a process that could take six months.

Still, the emerging market has hit speed bumps. Nori hoped to enroll more than 100 farmers in 2020, but so far, only Hill and an Iowa farmer have sold credits on the marketplace, with three more in the final stage of verification, according to Radhika Moolgavkar, a Nori program manager. At least one potential buyer, Microsoft, which has pledged to go “carbon negative” by 2030, turned down Nori’s credits because they weren’t backed by physical soil samples, Moolgavkar said. A Microsoft spokesperson declined to confirm that account.

“We’re seeing market formation in real time,” said David LeZaks, a senior fellow at the Croatan Institute, a nonprofit organization that researches sustainable investment.

The maturation of soil carbon science has complicated matters. Reduced tillage, already practiced by thousands of farmers, was once considered a major climate win because researchers saw carbon accumulate near the surface of untilled soils. But studies that sampled deeper soil layers revealed that carbon was lost there, wiping out most of the apparent gains.

Cover crops, whose roots and stalks add organic matter to the soil, have become the hotter item. A recent global meta-analysis estimated that if cover crops were planted on 15 percent of the world’s cropland, soils could soak up between 1 and 2 percent of all fossil fuel emissions. In December, Biden announced he wants to pay farmers to plant cover crops, and his USDA transition team has called for setting up a “carbon bank” within the first 100 days of his administration that would pay farmers, ranchers and forest owners for climate-friendly practices.

The USDA already offers three-year grants to encourage farmers to grow cover crops, but those have had limited impact. A 2017 USDA census found that cover crops were grown on less than 4 percent of American cropland.

Some researchers have questioned the practice’s climate benefits. In papers published last year based on long-term research plots in Iowa and California, scientists reported that when they measured carbon in soil to a depth of a meter or more, the gains of cover crops largely disappeared, similar to what had happened to no-till. By contrast, organic farming may do more to build deep reserves of carbon, those and other studies suggest.

Last year, the World Resources Institute, a leading Washington environmental nonprofit organization, stirred debate when it published two blog posts strongly questioning whether farming practices could make a meaningful dent in climate change.

Tim Searchinger, a researcher at Princeton University and senior fellow at WRI who was the lead author of both posts, says cover cropping and other regenerative practices are good for soil and the environment generally, but their carbon drawdown rates are too low to play a major role in averting climate disaster.

“An overfocus on soil carbon is a diversion from the climate strategies that can have a bigger impact,” Searchinger said in an interview. These include restoring carbon-absorbing peatlands, reducing methane emissions from cattle and other ruminants, and increasing the productivity of existing farmland to discourage deforestation.

Soil-based strategies are also limited in duration. Sequestration rates are highest in severely degraded soils, and after a few decades of climate-friendly farming, most soils become saturated with carbon — a fact not always noted by regenerative agriculture promoters, said David Powlson, a researcher at Rothamsted Research in Britain, which hosts the world’s longest-running agriculture experiment: “It’s not like getting rid of a coal-fired power station and replacing it with renewables, where exactly the same carbon savings is happening every year.”

Some fear emerging carbon markets risk wasting a rare opportunity for broader agricultural changes while giving corporations cover from more stringent climate regulations. Large industrial farmers such as Hill already benefit from a bevy of government programs, critics point out, while small-scale farmers with limited acreage will struggle to tap into markets. Expanding existing programs that pay farmers to grow native vegetation rather than crops could be a more cost-effective way to achieve climate benefits, others say.

Still, regenerative agriculture practices appeal to many experts because they’re field-tested and ready to be implemented.

“They are relatively inexpensive, relatively easy to adopt, and have a huge area of land where they’re suitable, and they have tremendous momentum and provide huge benefits to farms,” said Eric Toensmeier, a consultant with Project Drawdown and author of a recent report comparing the climate benefits of dozens of farming practices. “Cover cropping is one of the lowest hanging fruits.”

For Hill, the money from Nori was nice, but he doubts it will be enough to get more traditional farmers off the sidelines. An acre of single-species cover crops could cost $25 to $40 to plant; a biodiverse mix like Hill’s can run $65 an acre. And unlike Hill, most farmers can’t get payments from their state.

Still, between emerging carbon markets, a potential federal program and consumers waking up to the climate costs of food production, Hill is confident that he’s making a move that will be good for both the planet and his bottom line.

“Soil health,” he said, “should be the solution to climate change.”