Methods For Calculating Forest Ecosystem And Harvested Carbon With Standard Estimates For Forest Types Of The United States

This study presents techniques for calculating average net annual additions to carbon in forests and in forest products. Forest ecosystem carbon yield tables, representing stand-level merchantable volume and carbon pools as a function of stand age, were developed for 51 forest types within 10 regions of the United States. Separate tables were developed for afforestation and reforestation. Because carbon continues to be sequestered in harvested wood, approaches to calculate carbon sequestered in harvested forest products are included. Although these calculations are simple and inexpensive to use, the uncertainty of results obtained by using representative average values may be high relative to other techniques that use site- or project-specific data. The estimates and methods in this report are consistent with guidelines being updated for the U.S. Voluntary Reporting of Greenhouse Gases Program and with guidelines developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The CD-ROM included with this publication contains a complete set of tables in spreadsheet format.

This study presents techniques for calculating average net annual additions to carbon in forests and in forest products. Forest ecosystem carbon yield tables, representing standlevel merchantable volume and carbon pools as a function of stand age, were developed for 51 forest types within 10 regions of the United States. Separate tables were developed for afforestation and reforestation. Because carbon continues to be sequestered in harvested wood, approaches to calculate carbon sequestered in harvested wood products are included. Although these calculations are simple and inexpensive to use, the uncertainty of results obtained by using representative average values may be high relative to other techniques that use site- or project-specific data. The estimates and methods in this report are consistent with guidelines being updated for the U.S. Voluntary Reporting of Greenhouse Gases Program and with guidelines developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The CDROM included with this publication contains a complete set of tables in spreadsheet format.

This edited volume addresses a rising concern among natural resource scientists and management professionals about decline of the many plant and animal species associated with early-successional habitats, especially within the Central Hardwood Region of the USA. These open habitats, with herbaceous, shrub, or young forest cover, are disappearing as abandoned farmland, pastures, and cleared forest patches return to forest. There are many questions about “why, what, where, and how” to manage for early successional habitats. In this book, expert scientists and experienced land managers synthesize knowledge and original scientific work to address questions on such topics as wildlife, water, carbon sequestration, natural versus managed disturbance, future scenarios, and sustainable creation and management of early successional habitat in a landscape context.

The Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS) is a suite of computer modeling tools for predicting the long-term effects of alternative forest management actions. FVS was developed in the early 1980s and is used throughout the United Sates and British Columbia. The Third FVS conference, held February 13-15, 2007, in Fort Collins Colorado, contains 20 papers. They describe the use of FVS on the stand and landscape scale, and to analyze fuels management in the presence of insects and fire. Several papers compare FVS predictions of the effects of insects and disease to field measurements. FVS is continually evolving and improving in technology and capability to meet the needs of its ever increasing user community. Papers describe new methods for data acquisition and preparation for input to FVS, new economic analysis capabilities within FVS, new methods for simulating forest regeneration, new developments in calculating growth and mortality, and future plans for incorporating the effects of climate change in model simulations.

Measurement guidelines for forest carbon sequestration were developed to support reporting by public and private entities to greenhouse gas registries. These guidelines are intended to be a reference for designing a forest carbon inventory and monitoring system by professionals with a knowledge of sampling, statistical estimation, and forest measurements. This report provides guidance on defining boundaries; measuring, monitoring, and estimating changes in carbon stocks; implementing plans to measure and monitor carbon; and developing quality assurance and quality control plans to ensure credible and reproducible estimates of the carbon credits.

Forest ecosystems are often disturbed by agents such as harvesting, fire, wind, insects and diseases, and acid deposition, with differing intensities and frequencies. Such disturbances can markedly affect the amount, form, and stability of soil organic carbon in, and the emission of greenhouse gases, including CO2, CH4, and N2O from, forest ecosystems. It is vitally important that we improve our understanding of the impact of different disturbance regimes on forest soil carbon dynamics and greenhouse gas emissions to guide our future research, forest management practices, and policy development. This Special Issue provides an important update on the disturbance effects on soil carbon and greenhouse gas emissions in forest ecosystems in different climate regions.

In 2008, agricultural greenhouse gas sources accounted for about 6% of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. The U.S. Agriculture and Forestry Greenhouse Gas Inventory: 1990-2008 was developed to provide a comprehensive assessment of the contribution of U.S. agriculture and forestry to greenhouse gas emissions and carbon sequestration. It provides extensive, in-depth emissions and sinks estimates for livestock, cropland, and forests, as well as energy consumption in livestock and cropland agriculture. Estimates are provided at State, regional, and national scales, categorized by land ownership and management practices where possible. Charts and tables. This is a print on demand edition of an important, hard-to-find publication.