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Debunking Myths about Forests, Carbon, and Global Warming
- 1. Myths & Facts… Forests, Carbon, and Global Warming Doug Heiken
- 2. O r e g o n W i l d (formerly Oregon Natural Resources Council) Mission : To aggressively protect and restore Oregon’s wildlands, wildlife, and water as an enduring legacy. Goal : To permanently protect roadless areas and old-growth forest ecosystems. Climate change threatens forests. Conserving forests will store carbon and help mitigate a threat to earth’s climate and to the forests themselves.
- 4. Ingerson, Ann L. 2007. U.S. Forest Carbon and Climate Change. Washington, D.C.: The Wilderness Society. We can’t solve the climate problem by just saving forests … while continuing to drive our SUVs.
- 5. Watch the Planetary Biosphere Breathe Keeling Curve , http://heartspring.net/images/atmospheric_carbon_dioxide.gif
- 6. Constructing and Deconstructing Carbon Chains Cellulose chains are built through photosynthesis and broken down to CO 2 by respiration and combustion .
- 11. Lots of photosynthesis still happening here.
- 12. Lots of carbon stored here too.
- 13. … and here.
- 14. Logging creates arbon contrast.
- 15. Photosynthesis stopped here … Where did the carbon go?
- 16. WOOD PRODUCTS MYTH: It’s better to store carbon in wood products, rather than in forests. Example: "Carbon stays trapped in the wood, locked in the lumber …." Reality: Carbon is stored more securely in long-lived forests than in short-lived wood products.
- 17. Ingerson, Ann L. 2007. U.S. Forest Carbon and Climate Change. Washington, D.C.: The Wilderness Society. Where did the carbon go? The timber industry transfers most of the carbon in the forest to the atmosphere as logging slash, mill waste, and processing emissions.
- 18. Carbon stored for hundreds of years here.
- 19. Carbon may be stored for years here.
- 20. Or months here…
- 21. HARVEST MYTH: Timber harvest “absorbs” carbon. Source: California Forest Products Commission. Modern Forestry & Climate Change.
- 22. Ingerson, Ann L. 2007. U.S. Forest Carbon and Climate Change. Washington, D.C.: The Wilderness Society. Actually, logging emits carbon. Just follow the arrows from harvest back to the atmosphere.
- 23. Carbon is more secure in live trees than dead trees. Logging kills trees, stops photosynthesis, starves the soil foodweb.
- 24. Carbon is safer when protected by tree bark … Living trees have an arsenal of defenses that help keep carbon safe from decay, insects, and fire. rather than paint.
- 25. Carbon is safer in big pieces of wood, Logging fragments large wood and increases surface area exposed to bacterial decomposition. rather than small.
- 26. Reducing canopy cover warms the soil surface and increases the rate of decomposition. Carbon is more secure in a cool forest than a warm forest.
- 27. Logging debris is burned on site, emitting carbon.
- 28. Long-lived forests are better than… short-lived wood products.
- 29. FIRE MYTH: Forests are not good places to store carbon because forest fires release stored carbon through combustion. Example: “When a tree burns it releases all the carbon it previously stored."
- 30. Actually: Some forests are maintained by fire.
- 31. Some trees die … … so that others may live long and grow large. Fire is an essential ecological process that helps forests stay healthy.
- 32. Fires occur in limited areas for a limited duration, while photosynthesis dominates everywhere else. BIG PICTURE: The places that don’t burn absorb more carbon than is emitted by the places that do burn.
- 33. Most forest fires emit far less carbon than logging. Wayburn, Laurie A., et al. 2000. Forest Carbon in the United States: Opportunities & Options for Private Lands. San Francisco: Pacific Forest Trust.
- 34. Most carbon remains on site after forest fires. Large dead trees can last for many decades.
- 35. Fire creates charcoal which is a very stable form of carbon.
- 36. Fire + logging = carbon desert.
- 37. TROPICAL FOREST MYTH: Forests outside the tropics are unimportant because they do not contribute significantly to global carbon storage. Reality: Pacific NW temperate rainforests can attain the greatest biomass per acre of any ecosystem on earth. Temperate and boreal forests are very extensive and currently serve as net carbon sinks.
- 39. Global Ecosystem Carbon Density. Olson, J.S, J.A. Watts, and L.J. Allsion. 1985. Major World Ecosystem Complexes Ranked by Carbon in Live Vegetation: A Database . ORNL/CDIAC-134, NDP-017. Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, U.S. Department of Energy, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, U.S.A. (Revised 2001) http://cdiac.ornl.gov/epubs/ndp/ndp017/ndp017.html
- 41. ALBEDO MYTH: Forests are dark green, so they exacerbate global warming by absorbing rather than reflecting the sun's energy.
- 42. Actually, albedo only trumps forest carbon storage when forests are replaced by snow for long periods. This might happen in boreal areas with long, cold winters, but not in temperate forests of the Pacific Northwest.
- 43. Forests can also have a cooling effect by increasing albedo. Forests transpire a lot of water and emit “cloud condensation nuclei” which help create reflective clouds.
- 44. THE “DOOMSDAY” MYTH: Protecting forests won’t help because climate change will be extreme, causing forests to release large amounts of carbon due to stress and disturbance. http://www.x-cd.com/mcss04/S01a.pdf
- 45. Forests will first … “ Green Up” Then … “ Brown Down” Fire Insects Drought Longer growing seasons Drought tolerance CO 2 fertilization Actually, many forests may thrive before they decline.
- 46. Increased CO 2 makes trees more drought tolerant. With more CO 2 in the air, plants quickly get their fill of carbon, then actively close their stomata to reduce water loss.
- 49. Water Wildlife
- 50. METHANE MYTH: Allowing wood to rot in the forest releases methane (CH 4 ) which is 23 times worse than CO 2 . Reality: A small fraction of burning and rotting wood may be converted to methane instead of CO 2 . Allowing wood to rot in the forest is no worse than wood that rots in our cities and landfills.
- 51. SUBSTITUTION MYTH: Using wood products from short-rotation clearcutting reduces carbon emissions by substituting for more carbon intensive products like steel and cement. Reality: Using wood does not guarantee that fossil fuels will stay in the ground, and extending harvest rotations is still best for the climate.
- 52. Ingerson, Ann L. 2007. U.S. Forest Carbon and Climate Change. Washington, D.C.: The Wilderness Society. The alleged value of wood product substitution.
- 53. But if we start from a native forest instead of a clearcut… It takes a very long time for substitution to off-set the carbon deficit caused by logging native forest. What discount rate do we apply?
- 55. Climate change will be slow. Forests will make a smooth transition to a new equilibrium. Reality: Accelerating climate change will increase disequilibrium between the climate and biosphere. Reorganization of ecosystems will sometimes be rapid and chaotic. Ecosystems will disassemble and reassemble in novel ways. Holling et al. In Search of a Theory of Adaptive Change “ NO SURPRISES” MYTH:
- 60. It’s not just about forests …
- 61. Oceans, prairies, rivers are all at risk, and can play a role in mitigating climate change.
- 62. Thanks for listening! Doug Heiken [email_address] www.oregonwild.org Detailed report on forests-carbon-climate available: http://tinyurl.com/2n96m5