Soils are among the largest pools of carbon and hold great promise for mitigating increasing atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) (Marland et al., 2001) (all references cited in the Executive Summary are found in the reference section of the report). In natural conditions, CO2 from the atmosphere can be stored in the soil as a solid. When soils are managed to increase carbon uptake, it is commonly referred to as carbon sequestration. Carbon is stored in soils in two forms, as soil organic carbon or soil inorganic carbon. Soil organic carbon forms through plant uptake and decomposition, while soil inorganic carbon forms through mineralization. To take advantage of these natural processes that pull CO2 from the atmosphere, alternate farming and resource management practices can be employed that increase the carbon stock in biomass and soils. The promotion and implementation of water and land management practices that enhance carbon buildup in biomass and soils include adopting conservation tillage, reducing soil erosion, and minimizing soil disturbance; using buffer strips along waterways; enrolling land in conservation programs; restoring and better managing wetlands; restoring degraded lands; converting marginal croplands to wetlands or grasslands; eliminating summer fallow (Lal et al., 1999; Paustian and Cole, 1998), using perennial grasses and winter cover crops; and fostering an increase in forests (Peterson et al., 1999).