Report: Colorado Forests Release More Carbon than Captures Every year

Colorado forests store a large amount of carbon, but in most cases trees that die from insects and diseases release more carbon than have been absorbed in recent years, according to a report from the Colorado Forest Service. It’s there.

Wood consumes carbon dioxide and moves away from the atmosphere, preventing heat-confined gases from contributing to global warming. However, dead trees slowly release carbon when decomposed.

The findings of the report show that policymakers will consider options for reducing carbon to reduce climate change and forest managers will develop long-term strategies for forestry and carbon management. There is.

“People are looking for our natural ecosystems to mitigate climate change,” said Tony Forster, the report’s lead author and research scientist at the Institute for Natural Resources Ecology. . “As we are now a statewide source of pure carbon, we should not necessarily look to forests to offset our emissions. That trend will likely continue with ongoing droughts and wildfires.”

Future reports include Colorado forests with even greater carbon sources due to recent serious wildfires not explained in reports released on January 9, 2002-2019. He said it was indicating something.

State mandatory forest carbon stocks provide the most detailed and comprehensive assessment of the amount of carbon stored in Colorado forests and harvested timber products, and how that amount changes over time. Provides.

“It’s natural that the time, where forests are carbon sinks and then carbon sources, is circulating. We’re interested in the long-term trends,” Wolter said.

Researchers from the Colorado State Forest Service and the Institute of Natural Resources Ecology, which are part of one of Colorado State University’s Warner University of Natural Resources, have developed a statewide carbon accounting framework to produce continuous inventory. did. Inventory establishes a baseline to measure future changes, allowing managers and policymakers to measure the long-term effectiveness of decisions. It is updated every few years.

“Although other reports provide estimates of forest carbon, this report stands out as the first report focusing solely on the state’s forest sector,” said CSFS Forest Carbon Specialist and co-author of the report. Ashley Prentiss said. “It provides a detailed and detailed analysis of the amount of carbon stored, how it is changing, and the factors driving these changes.”

Researchers estimated that Colorado’s 22.8 million acres of forests and harvested timber products stored 1,558 teragrams of carbon between 2010 and 2019 (teragrams are 1 trillion grams or million tonnes of tonnes). ) It was released and is roughly equivalent to the annual carbon footprint from a 1.3 billion gas-powered vehicle.

Compared to total carbon stock, the state’s forests release a relatively small 0.9 teragrams of carbon each year, calculated approximately equal to the annual carbon footprint of 770,000 vehicles per year.

Carbon profit and loss patchwork

Trees are semi-carbon. They absorb carbon dioxide through photosynthesis and store it as biomass in the trunks, branches, leaves, roots, and soil.

This inventory is the first Colorado to include harvested timber products such as timber and furniture, and continues to store carbon until they are disassembled or burned. The harvested wood contributed only a small amount of carbon to the entire state stock. However, Prentice said, “These products represent opportunities for long-term carbon storage while supporting the local economy.

Changes in carbon stocks were significantly different in forest types and locations, along with obstacles caused by wildfires, weather, insects, diseases and wood harvesting.

Insects and diseases (particularly bark outbreaks) affected more forests during the study than wildfires, harvests and weather. Insects and diseases were responsible for 85% of the total area affected by the disorder and 64% of disturbance-related carbon losses.

The undisturbed forest sequestered more carbon than they released.

So, can we plant more trees to make up for the difference?

“We’re not going to get out of this, but planting is a strategy that can be used to reduce forest losses and mitigate some of these carbon losses,” Volter said.

He emphasized that although inventory focuses on carbon, it is just one of many factors that forest managers consider, including wildlife, recreation, economics and wildfire risk. He also said it is important to have a long view of carbon management. For example, forest thinning can cost carbon stocks in the short term to limit the severity of wildfires, but it can retain more carbon in the long term.

Tree-level tracking

Inventory calculated higher carbon stocks and reduced emissions than historical estimates, probably due to different methodologies, Vorster said.

In developing a new inventory framework, CSFS and NREL adapted the estimation method used by West Coast states for the Rocky Mountain region, creating templates that can be used in other states.

Inventory tracks tree-level growth, removal, and mortality trends through federal data from the U.S. Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis Program. CSFS examines Colorado FIA plots every 10 years from 2002 for consistent long-term data on individual trees. The plot represents the entire forest area of ​​the state, both public and private land, but does not include urban trees. Wood harvest data dating back to 1954 were used to determine changes in carbon stocks and harvested wood products.