Recently The Herald published an article highlighting the Washington state Department of Natural Resources intent to dedicate 10,000 acres of managed forestland as a carbon reserve (“A price on carbon will keep forests saving climate,” The Herald, April 12). The state intends to lease the trees as carbon credits to companies emitting greenhouse gases. The idea is touted as a win/win for the state and the environment in the fight against global warming.
The assumption behind such thinking is that by leaving otherwise mature timber standing, more carbon is sequestered, offsetting carbon emitted elsewhere. Ironically, the truth is exactly the opposite. As any first-year forestry student can attest, backed by innumerable scientific studies, young stands of rapidly growing trees are far more efficient at absorbing carbon dioxide through the photosynthetic process than maturing trees reaching senescence. In fact, the most inefficient trees are “old growth,” which generally exhibit negative growth due to decay and rotting.
If we are really interested in promoting our forests as the lungs of the earth, we should be encouraging responsible harvests and reforestation. That is the true win/win; lumber from the harvested trees indefinitely store carbon in construction, and the land is again occupied by young stands rapidly absorbing carbon dioxide.
The real beneficiaries of this “carbon reserve” project are our Commissioner of Public Lands who can burnish her environmental “cred,” the DNR’s partner, Finite Carbon (mostly owned by British Petroleum) who will undoubtedly profit from carbon emissions, and organizations such as the Washington Forest Law Center, which makes a business out of fighting any form of timber harvest.
The real losers are the taxpayers of the state. Recent DNR timber sales have averaged $15,000 to $20,000 per acre which greatly benefit the school, hospital and other trust holders. In addition hundreds of family-wage jobs involved in the process of utilizing forest resources are sacrificed. Hopefully the fallacy of such programs will eventually be realized, and the land put back into forest production for the good of the public and the environment.
Ron Baker
Arlington
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