First Name | Susan |
---|---|
Last Name | Robinson |
Email Address | srmw@comcast.net |
Affiliation | |
Subject | Forestry Protocols - erroneous scientific infomation |
Comment | I do not believe that CCAR and CARB are considering unbiased scientific information in including clearcutting under the forestry protocols. My discussions with several members of the CCAR working group and with CARB staff lead me to believe that these groups and staffs are being unduly influenced by erroneous science which is being perpetrated by the powerful timber lobbyists. We are all well aware of how this happened in the Bush administration and hope that this perversion of true science due to political pressure will not occur in California's climate change efforts. I am attaching the work of a noted climate and forestry expert - Dr. Mark Harmon - into the CARB record to dispel the myths that have been "accepted" by CCAR and CARB staff regarding forestry methods and climate change. The following is an exerpt from the attachment re Carbon Sequestration by Younger versus Older Forests. "It is very disappointing to find that arguments are still being made that younger forests are better for climate mitigation than older ones. The mistaken basis for this argument is that younger forests store carbon at faster rates than older forests. There is a grain of truth to the assertion that forests at a relatively young age do have the potential to take up more carbon than older forests. But it is also true that forests younger than this optimum age also take up less carbon. Indeed immediately after disturbance very young forests are releasing carbon as the dead material caused by the disturbance (including timber harvests) decomposes. Averaged over the entire period between disturbances, the average flow into a forest equals the amount going out as long as the same type of disturbance is repeated. This finding has been repeatedly demonstrated in scientific examinations of this issue. The key is therefore not the rate of carbon uptake or release at any particular time, but the average amount stored over time. I am not aware of a single scientific study in which the average carbon store of a forest disturbed by clear cut harvesting at a long interval is smaller than one disturbed at a shorter interval. Not a single study, and I just performed a literature search on this very issue. In addition to the interval between disturbances, another important factor is the amount of carbon removed by each disturbance. Timber harvest, clear cutting in particular, removes more carbon from the forest than any other disturbance (including fire). The result is that harvesting forests generally reduces carbon stores and results in a net release of carbon to the atmosphere". |
Attachment | www.arb.ca.gov/lists/forestry09/8-m_harmon_ltr_ccar.doc |
Original File Name | M Harmon ltr CCAR.doc |
Date and Time Comment Was Submitted | 2009-09-22 22:45:28 |
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