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New Data Shows Unlogged Forests Fight Global Warming Better Than Industrial Forests

Maps show stark comparison between private land clear-cuts and public old growth

Data adds to building scientific evidence pointing to the importance of protecting mature and old-growth forests to help slow global warming pollution.

A carbon storage map of a section of the Willamette National Forest shows the stark divide between publicly-owned land and heavily-logged private land.

Using a sophisticated new data set from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the conservation group Oregon Wild released new maps today clearly displaying the effects of logging on carbon storage in Oregon’s forests. The maps show the amount of carbon stored in different land areas across the state and provide a window into how management decisions impact our efforts to combat global warming. Coupled with recent research on carbon storage and the Northwest Forest Plan, the report makes a convincing case for preservation of old-growth on public lands.

“When I first took a casual look at the map of Oregon, you could already see that forests were the real hot spot for storing carbon pollution,” commented Erik Fernandez, a GIS mapping specialist with Oregon Wild. “When you look closer, you start to see that not all forests are equal – with private lands looking like carbon deserts and unlogged public forests looking like vast carbon reservoirs.”

Previous studies have shown that forests in the Pacific Northwest – specifically old-growth forests – store carbon at an incredible rate. With a mild climate and plenty of rain, Oregon’s forests are some of the fastest growing in the world and as trees grow, they absorb carbon pollution. The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality estimates that forests sequester half of the state’s carbon emissions.

Recent research out of Oregon State University has added to the understanding of the forest/carbon dynamic as it relates to older forests. It was once thought that old-growth forests no longer stored additional carbon when they reached their growth limit. In fact, ancient forests continue to pull carbon out of the atmosphere and pump it into the surrounding soil.

The Woods Hole data comes from a comprehensive estimate of above-ground biomass and clearly shows the stark divide between robust old-growth forest carbon storage and limited carbon capacity on industrially managed lands. Given that the dataset is limited to carbon stored above ground, the divide between ancient forests and heavily-logged private lands could be even greater if soil storage was included.

“It seems that every time we add a piece to this puzzle, the importance of old-growth forests for global warming prevention becomes even clearer,” added Fernandez.

In fact, a recent study of forests managed under the Northwest Forest Plan showed that public lands went from net carbon emitters in the late 1980s to huge carbon sinks by the late 1990s. Researchers pointed out that the Northwest Forest Plan reduced the level of old-growth logging in an effort to protect imperiled wildlife, but had the unintended benefit of allowing forests to store more global warming pollution.

“We already know that Oregon’s ancient forests protect our clean drinking water, give us great places to go hiking, and provide a home to native wildlife,” concluded Fernandez. “And if we protect them, they just might help save us from climate change.”

Links:

• Oregon Wild localized analysis of Woods Hole data
• Woods Hole National Biomass and Carbon Dataset
• Northwest Forest Plan carbon storage research found in Forest Ecology and Management
• Oregon Wild report from 2008: Climate Control – How Northwest Old-Growth Forests Can Help Fight Global Warming

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