U.S. Forest Carbon and Climate Change Controversies and Win-Win Policy Approaches

As consensus grows about the serious impacts of global climate change, the role of forests in carbon storage is increasingly recognized. Terrestrial vegetation worldwide currently removes about 24 percent of the greenhouse gases released by industrial processes. Unfortunately, this contribution is approximately cancelled out by carbon released as a result of global deforestation and other ecosystem changes. Slowing or halting the rate of deforestation is thus one of the prime strategies to mitigate global climate change. The U.S. situation differs from the global one in several ways. Since both forest acres and average biomass per forest acre are currently increasing, as U.S. forests recover from past clearing or heavy harvest, our forest carbon stores are growing larger over time. However, our high rate of industrial emissions means that only about 10 percent of the carbon released from burning fossil fuels in the United States is captured by our forests. Moreover, net U.S. forest carbon sequestration has begun to slow in recent years as reforestation reaches its limits and development sprawls into more rural forested areas. U.S. forests could possibly capture a much higher portion of our industrial emissions, but only if we prevent forest conversion and development and manage our forests to maximize carbon stores.