The Draft 2022 Scoping Plan should enable the removal of more
carbon dioxide by forests than it does. The carbon removal should
happen NOW.
The preferred NWL alternative 3 calls for more forest thinning
as the only forest related action. Thinning will result in more GHG
emissions. Thinning removes far more carbon than if all the thinned
areas burned. If there were a fire, only approximately 3% of the
tree carbon burns.
Fuel reduction may or may not reduce fire intensity. Many
studies show it doesn't reduce fire intensity. It is not proven
that fuel reduction will result in more resilient carbon rich
forests in the long term and this possible improvement would take
years to happen--too late for us to address the climate
crisis.
Forest management practices should be modified to increase
carbon storage rather than decrease it by 1. Reducing or
eliminating clear cutting, 2. Eliminating salvage logging and
retaining dead trees which store carbon for decades, retain
moisture, and provide habitat for more wildlife, 3. Retaining more
mature trees, 4. Increasing the length of plantation rotation
cycles to decrease dense young flammable stands of trees.
Lastly, electric utilities should be required to insulate their
bare wire distribution lines rather than remove millions of trees
that could be sequestering and storing carbon.
California needs to promote forest management practices that
result in more stored and sequestered carbon NOW.