Changes in timber haul emissions in the context of shifting forest management and infrastructure

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Although significant amounts of carbon may be stored in harvested wood products, the extraction of that carbon from the forest generally entails combustion of fossil fuels. The transport of timber from the forest to primary milling facilities may in particular create emissions that reduce the net sequestration value of product carbon storage. However, attempts to quantify the effects of transport on the net effects of forest management typically use relatively sparse survey data to determine transportation emission factors. We developed an approach for systematically determining transport emissions using: 1) -remotely sensed maps to estimate the spatial distribution of harvests, and 2) - industry data to determine landscape-level harvest volumes as well as the location and processing totals of individual mills. These data support spatial network analysis that can produce estimates of fossil carbon released in timber transport.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Transport-related emissions, evaluated as a fraction of transported wood carbon at 4 points in time on a landscape in western Montana (USA), rose from 0.5% in 1988 to 1.7% in 2004 as local mills closed and spatial patterns of harvest shifted due to decreased logging on federal lands.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The apparent sensitivity of transport emissions to harvest and infrastructure patterns suggests that timber haul is a dynamic component of forest carbon management that bears further study both across regions and over time. The monitoring approach used here, which draws only from widely available monitoring data, could readily be adapted to provide current and historical estimates of transport emissions in a consistent way across large areas.</p

Forest resources of the Coconino National Forest

16 pages (PDF version). File size: 399 KB. Col. ill. Includes bibliographic references

Utah\u27s forest resources, 2000-2005

FIA is responsible for periodic assessments of the status and trends of the renewable resources of America’s forests. Fundamental to the accomplishment of these assessments are the State-by-State resource inventories, which are now conducted on an annual basis. This report summarizes the results, interpretations, and future significance of Utah’s annual inventory. The organization and layout of this report begins with a short introduction of FIA’s annual inventory system and then a detailed description of its inventory methods. After an overview of the report tables, the bulk of the report is contained in the “Forest Resources” and “Current Issues” and “FIA Indicators” sections, and finishes with a discussion of Utah’s Timber Products. The “Forest Resources” section is outlined similar to past periodic reports for ease of comparisons. The “Current Issues” and “FIA Indicators” sections cover topics considered pertinent to Utah’s forests relative to the information FIA collects, and points to other related or more in-depth studies and research