BDSUBJECT: Global Warming and Forests Efforts to curb global warming are heating up as the nations of the world prepare to negotiate a treaty to curb greenhouse gases this December. Industry is in full swing with a media campaign claiming this treaty will "end civilization as we know it." Meanwhile over 2,600 scientists have signed a letter saying global climate change is a fact that we need to deal with immediately or face catastrophic consequences. The timber industry has gotten into the act claiming that increased forest management (i.e. logging) will help reduce global warming. Reps. Don Young (R-AK) and Speaker Newt Gingrich (R- GA) have introduced a House Resolution (H. Res. 151) expressing the sense of Congress that public forests should be managed to maximize the reduction of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The resolution assumes that the release of stored carbon can be prevented or delayed by logging and using wood products and paper and then replanting young thrifty forests that will remove more carbon dioxide. The facts don't support this claim. If you want to maximize carbon storage then typically it will never be optimal to harvest any forest stands, according to the report "Optimal Forest Stand Management When Benefits Are Derived From Carbon" by Richard Birdsey of the Forest Service and Andrew Plantinga of the University of Maine. "Old-growth stands contain large amounts of carbon, a significant portion of which is converted to CO2 when these stands are harvested," the report says, "young forests would have to be grown for hundreds of years just to offset the carbon released from the initial harvest." A study entitled "Conversion of Old Growth Forest to Young Forests in Oregon and Washington," by Harmon, Ferrell and Franklin also concludes that conversion to plantations will increase atmospheric CO2. Other studies show that even-aged management can impair a forest's ability to store carbon for up to thirty years after the clearcutting takes place. Another false premise of the House Resolution is that using paper and other tree-based products will delay the release of CO2. However, the draft EPA report entitled "Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Municipal Waste Management" concludes that paper production and use releases most of that stored carbon. The report also concludes that overall CO2 emissions can be reduced by paper recycling and waste reduction. Reducing demand allows more trees to remain standing longer thereby reducing emissions. Reducing paper waste helps limit the amount methane (a byproduct of wastepaper and cardboard deteriorating in landfills that is a powerful greenhouse gas) released from landfills and saves energy.
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