1. Global Forest Carbon Budget (tons of C/y)
Carbon sink or source (-)
Boreal Forests (like Canada, northern Alaska, and Russia)
551 million tons
Temperate Forest (like much of the United States)
860 millon tons
Tropical Intact (not heavily disturbed)
1.1 billon tons
Total sink established forests
2.5 billon tons
Tropical forests that have been cut down but are now regrowing
1.9 billon tons
Emissions from Tropical that have been cut down and not replated
-3.1 billon tons
Tropical land-use emission
-1.2 billion tons
Global forest sink
4.4 billion tons
Global net forest sink (total carbon captured by forest minus the total carbon lost when forest are cut down and not replanted)
1.3 billion tons
Pan et al Science 333:

2. Global Carbon Fluxes
Pan et al Science 333:

3. U.S. Forest Carbon Balance- (0 is neutral- rising line represents carbon being released)
16.5 billion tons stored; 220 million tons per year
46 billion tons released,
196 million tons per year
Fig. 4.The carbon balance of the U.S. forest sector shows that clearing for agriculture, pasture, development, and wood use released ∼42 000 Tg of carbon from 1700 to 1935, and recovered ∼15 000 Tg of carbon from 1935 to Adapted and reprinted from Birdsey et al. 2006, with permission from the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America.
McKinley et al Ecological Applications 21:1902–1924

4. Carbon storage in the USA
Zhu, Zhiliang, and Reed, B.C., eds., 2012, Baseline and projected future carbon storage and greenhouse-gas fluxes in ecosystems of the Western United States: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1797, 192 p. (

6. Carbon flux

8. USDA Forest Service Carbon storage in US forests, by state, sub-region, and ownership group. Available online at [Only forest land included,.}

9. PNW Old Growth Reserves
Smithwick, Erica AH, et al. "Potential upper bounds of carbon stores in forests of the Pacific Northwest." Ecological Applications 12.5 (2002):

10. PNW Old Growth Reserves
Smithwick, Erica AH, et al. "Potential upper bounds of carbon stores in forests of the Pacific Northwest." Ecological Applications 12.5 (2002):

13. Carbon accumulation with active forest management can increase C, but…
Cumulative carbon (Mg/ha)
McKinley et al
Years

14. …declines and recovers when starting with Old Growth forest
Cumulative carbon (Mg/ha)
Carbon balance from two hypothetical forest
management projects with different initial ecosystem carbon
stocks. Cumulative carbon stocks in both ecosystems, carbon
removed from forest for use in wood products (long [L]- and
short-lived [S]), substitution, and biomass energy (bio-energy)
are shown for two scenarios: (A) land that has been afforested
and (B) a forest with high initial carbon stocks. Carbon stocks
for trees, litter, and soils are net carbon stocks only. Both
scenarios are harvested in 40-year intervals. This diagram
assumes that all harvested biomass will be used and does not
account for logging emissions. Gains in carbon sequestration
occur in two ways; (1) increasing the average ecosystem carbon
stock (panel A; tree biomass), and (2) accounting for carbon
stored in wood products in use and landfills, as well as
preventing the release of fossil fuel carbon (counted as stored
carbon) via product substitution or biomass energy (panel A;
landfill, short- and long-lived products, and bio-energy).
However, carbon can be lost for some time (panel B) when
forests with substantial carbon stocks are harvested (e.g., some
old-growth forests) until carbon stocks can accrue via
sequestration in landfills, products, and with substitution
effects. (The figure is adapted from the 2007 IPCC report.)
McKinley et al Ecological Applications 21:1902–1924

15. Managing 2nd growth to increase carbon storage
Forest age (years)
Carbon Storage Rate vs Total Storage
Carbon
Industrial Forestry Harvest Age
Increase rotation length
Reduce harvest intensity
Leave snags and coarse woody debris
Minimize soil disturbance
Slide: Paul Fischer
1 Canadell and Raupach Science 320:

16. Harvest and carbon pools
Carbon
Wood products
Carbon with NO HARVEST
Carbon with HARVEST
But compared to no harvest, it is clear that we can do better.
Forest age (years)
Slide: Paul Fischer