Mar 5, 2024 ASHEVILLE, N.C., March 5, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — A new lawsuit alleges the U.S. Forest Service’s practice of setting ‘timber targets’ puts the climate at risk, undermines the Biden administration’s important climate goals, and violates federal law. The Southern Environmental Law Center filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia […]
Read MoreCategory: Forest carbon accounting issues
The wood industry releases more carbon than Russia — and we’re not counting its emissions: study
The wood products industry is massively undercounting its impact on the climate, a new study has found. Through its production of paper, pulp, pellets and lumber, the industry releases at least 3.5 billion tons of carbon dioxide every year, according to a study published last week in Nature. That is a large number in its own right: more than […]
Read MoreWood Is Not the Climate-friendly Building Material Some Claim it to Be
Because concrete and steel used to construct buildings are a major source of global greenhouse gas emissions, there is growing interest in “mass timber” — a supposedly lower-carbon option — to replace them. New ways of gluing pieces of wood together to form strong beams and structural panels provide opportunities to use wood even in tall buildings. But new research finds that using wood in construction is likely to increase emissions for many decades, […]
Read MoreThe Biden administration has called for protecting mature US forests to slow climate change, but it’s still allowing them to be logged
Published: March 9, 2023 8.40am EST Forests are critically important for slowing climate change. They remove huge quantities of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere – 30% of all fossil fuel emissions annually – and store carbon in trees and soils. Old and mature forests are especially important: They handle droughts, storms and wildfires better than young trees, […]
Read MoreBiomass Logging: Bad for Communities, Climate & Forests
Forest Carbon Coalition and John Muir Project presents Biomass Logging: Bad for Communities, Climate & Forests Please join our esteemed panelists Katherine Egland of Mississippi’s Education, Economics, Environmental, Climate and Health Organization (EEECHO), Dr. Shaye Wolf, of Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) and biologist, author, and filmmaker Maya Khosla for an in-depth discussion of biomass logging. Katherine […]
Read MoreAssessing carbon stocks & accumulation potential of mature forests and larger trees in U.S. federal lands
(Complying with President Joe Biden’s Executive Order 14072 directing federal agencies to define and conduct an inventory of them for conservation purposes.)
Read MoreExecutive Order 14072: Protecting Mature and Old-Growth Forests, both Foreign and Domestic
Eric KlosterMay 14, 2022 During a visit to Seattle, President Joe Biden signed Executive Order 14072 on Earth Day, April 22, 2022, mandating that the government categorize and monitor old-growth trees on federal lands. Executive Order 14072 consists of five sections. Section 1 is a statement of the new federal policy regarding the protection of old-growth forests. […]
Read MoreU.S. Forest Service restores critical protections to Tongass National Forest
The National Roadless Rule was rolled back for America’s last great rainforest by the Trump administration, threatening millions of acres of undeveloped national forest lands JUNEAU, Alaska (Áakʼw Ḵwáan Territory) — In a win for Southeast Alaska communities, wildlife, and the climate, the U.S. Forest Service reinstated Roadless Rule protections across the Tongass rainforest in Southeast […]
Read MoreAmerica’s Vanishing Climate Forests:
At last year’s COP26 in Scotland, the United States and more than 140 other countries made an ambitious commitment to reverse global deforestation by 2030 to help combat climate change. President Joe Biden declared that the United States would “lead by our example at home” to conserve and restore forest carbon sinks.
At this year’s COP27 global climate summit in Egypt, Biden takes the world stage as U.S. forest-management agencies are failing to live up to his promise. They’re logging carbon-rich, mature and old-growth trees and forests on federally owned lands undercutting […]
Read MoreMature Federal Forests Play an Outsized Role in the Nation’s Climate Strategy
A new study published in the peer-reviewed journal Forests and Global Change presents the nation’s first assessment of carbon stored in larger trees and mature forests on 11 national forests from the West Coast states to the Appalachian Mountains. This study is a companion to prior work to define, inventory and assess the nation’s older forests published in a […]
Read MoreSatellites Detect No Real Climate Benefit from 10 years of Forest Carbon Offsets in California
theconversation.com Many of the companies promising “net-zero” emissions to protect the climate are relying on vast swaths of forests and what are known as carbon offsets to meet that goal. On paper, carbon offsets appear to balance out a company’s carbon emissions: The company pays to protect trees, which absorb carbon dioxide from the air. The company […]
Read MoreForest Research Links Carbon Uptake and Water Use
“Climate change ecology studies the interactions between climate change and natural ecosystems.” New research links the amount of carbon dioxide taken in by land ecosystems, such as forests, to the availability of water, which is in short supply during droughts. Our climate is rapidly warming with rising temperatures affecting the physical environments that support entire […]
Read MoreForest research links carbon uptake and water use
New research links the amount of carbon dioxide taken in by land ecosystems, such as forests, to the availability of water, which is in short supply during droughts. Our climate is rapidly warming with rising temperatures affecting the physical environments that support entire ecosystems. Humans and animal species both face daunting challenges for survival because of climate change. During […]
Read MoreIndustrial Logging, Forest Depletion, and Climate Change—The Ghost in the Machine
There are nearly 33 million acres of forested land in the State of California. Since the early days of European- American settlement, the wholesale destruction of our native, “old-growth” forests, and the overall depletion of the productive capacity of our forests, both public and private, have been the subject of debate and concern. Many may […]
Read MoreAmid climate crisis, a proposal to save Washington state forests for carbon storage, not logging
March 21, 2021 Lynda V. Mapes, Seattle Times environment reporter Part of a 180-acre timber sale auctioned off for $4.2 million last November by the state Department of Natural Resources (DNR), their next stop was a plywood mill. Then, something unusual happened. Hilary Franz, state commissioner of public lands, pulled back nearly 40 acres with most […]
Read MoreForest Unlimited’s 2020 Plants 1400 Redwoods
In January of 2020, Forest Unlimited planted 1400 redwood seedlings on two different properties, one near Occidental and the other near Sebastopol. The plantings that took place over two days and involved the efforts of about 100 volunteers. Forest Unlimited has been doing these large plantings for at least 20 years. We estimate that the […]
Read MoreStudy Finds Not Logging Some Northwest Forests Could Offset Climate Change
by Cassandra Profita Dec. 23, 2019 A new study finds some Northwest forests have a lot of potential to capture carbon and offset climate change. That is, if they’re preserved and not logged. Researchers at Oregon State University and the University of California-Berkeley looked at which forests in the Western United States should be prioritized for preservation under climate […]
Read MoreOne thing you can do: Help to preserve forests
By Jillian Mock When we make a mess in the kitchen, many of us reach for paper towels without sparing a thought for where those crisp white sheets originated. If you’re in North America, some of the fiber in your paper towels (and other tissue products like toilet paper) probably started off as a tree […]
Read MoreLetter to the Editor Published in the Press Democrat, Santa Rosa CA
State forest management policy is a major factor in the loss of salmon populations and the potential recovery of salmon populations. And – as it turn out forest management is a large part of the long term problem or long term solution of the climate change issue. I think the voting population is ready for change. […]
Read MoreForest Conservation Is Part of the Climate Conversation Too
By Jason Daley | Sep 25 2018 When it comes to discussions about climate change, things like clean energy, carbon credits, and even climate engineering get a lot of attention. But one important solution has gotten lost in the mix: conserving forests. That’s why the North Carolina–based Dogwood Alliance, a group that advocates for southern forests, just […]
Read MoreTop Climate Scientist Joins Coalition in Calling for an End to Clearcuts and Timber Plantations
July 10, 2018 by John Talberth One of the world’s leading climate scientists joined a coalition of 18 conservation, scientific, and community organizations calling on Oregon’s new Carbon Policy Office (CPO) and the Department of Forestry (ODF) to do an about-face on the state’s evolving forest carbon policy and to immediately implement measures to curb the harmful […]
Read MoreLand use strategies to mitigate climate change in carbon dense temperate forests
Beverly E. Law, Tara W. Hudiburg, Logan T. Berner, Jeffrey J. Kent, Polly C. Buotte and Mark E. Harmon PNAS March 19, 2018. 201720064; published ahead of print March 19, 2018. Edited by William H. Schlesinger, Duke University, Durham, NC, and approved January 22, 2018 (received for review November 16, 2017) Significance Regional quantification of […]
Read MoreLand use strategies to mitigate climate change in carbon dense temperate forests
Greg (et al) As part of our ongoing discussion of what may, or may not, work to attain Green House Gas emission reduction via the State’s Cap and Trade program – please review this study. There are strategies and issues in the Cap and Trade program that need review and fixing. Please see my comments […]
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