Carbon dioxide released by humans’ burning of fossil fuels is the key “greenhouse gas” driving climate change, which is increasingly affecting people, plants, and wildlife.
In healthy forests, trees remove, or sequester, carbon from the air and store it in their wood. Young, quickly growing trees take in carbon at a rapid rate. Older, slower-growing trees sequester carbon more slowly but have the capacity to store more of it.
Early Successional Habitat for Wildlife
Many concerned citizens believe the most important thing trees and forests can do is to sequester and store carbon to slow down climate change. Creating young forest that rapidly captures carbon can contribute to that goal while also helping to meet the habitat needs of both common and rare wildlife.
We can help wildlife by mimicking natural disturbances through carefully cutting down trees in strategic places. Harvesting timber (logging) can lock up carbon when the wood is used for buildings, furniture, flooring, and other long-lasting products. Heating our homes and other structures using high-efficiency wood stoves can reduce the amount of irreplaceable fossil fuel that we burn.
Harvested Wood is Quickly Replenished
In the well-watered Northeast, wood harvested from carefully managed forests is replaced by ongoing tree growth. For that reason, logging offers a sustainable source of timber products, heat energy, and, in many cases, revenue for landowners and a boost to local economies. If timber harvests are sited and carried out properly, wildlife can benefit, too.
The Young Forest Initiative does not advocate widespread clearcut timber harvesting: rather, the goal is to conduct timber harvests of appropriate types and sizes where they will do the most good for wildlife.
The U.S. Forest Service is one of many natural resources agencies that considers carbon stewardship when planning land management actions, including harvesting trees.
Protecting Forests, Plants, and Animals
A key step in addressing climate change is to protect forests in general. Turning a wooded tract into a development – whether houses or a solar collection field – causes an immediate release of carbon while ending that woodland's potential for absorbing and storing carbon in the future.
Many ecologists agree that managing some forests to ensure diverse, different-age habitats with different kinds of trees doesn’t significantly harm our forests’ overall ability to absorb carbon. Such management actions can improve forest health while helping to keep many kinds of wildlife and native plants on the landscape. This fact sheet has more information.
Things to Remember:
- Large old trees store lots of carbon in the form of solid wood.
- Young, fast-growing trees rapidly remove and sequester carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as they grow.
- We need both old and young trees to maximize the role forests play in combating climate change while boosting forest health and providing diverse habitats for wildlife.
Resources
Learn more from the brochure Protecting Forests, Storing Carbon, and Helping Wildlife.
Carbon Conservation of MassWildlife Forest Lands explains how a state agency balances the need to make habitat for wildlife with the importance of storing carbon.
A report by scientists with the state universities of Massachusetts and Vermont, Forest Carbon: An Essential Natural Solution for Climate Change, helps landowners make informed decisions on how to manage their woodlands.
