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More Scientists Linking the Key Role Forests Play
A recent New York Times article details how forests around the globe are a major factor in absorbing carbon emissions. As was the case made in "The Forest Factor" healthy productive forests absorb vast amounts of atmospheric carbon. However, when trees and forests burn AND when they are killed by insects, disease, fire or storms, they release their stored carbon. We see in the aftermath of catastrophic fires like the 2002 Rodeo-Chediski in Arizona, that without our restoration efforts, it could take centuries for these lost treasures to recover on their own.
Interior West Forests on Verge of Becoming Net Carbon Emitter
By APRIL REESE of Greenwire
Published: November 11, 2010
Forests in the Interior West could soon flip from carbon sink to carbon source, forest experts say.
The region's forests once absorbed and stored more carbon from the atmosphere than they released. But huge conflagrations -- like the 138,000-acre Hayman Fire in Colorado in 2002 and the Yellowstone fires of 1988, which scorched 1.2 million acres -- combined with a series of severe bark beetle infestations and disease outbreaks, have left large swaths of dead, decomposing trees in almost every major Western forest.
Those dead trees are releasing massive amounts of carbon dioxide, turning the region into a net emitter of carbon rather than a CO2 sponge.
Forest Products and Forest Health
Denver, CO (September 2, 2009). Hard times have hit our western rural communities and our forested landscapes. The loss of an economically-viable forest products industry has put our western forests and communities in great peril. As our new administration delivers a new vision for forests, the Western Forestry Leadership Coalition (WFLC) a group of state and federal forestry leaders released their new video and recommendations on how revitalizing the forestry sector will play a critical role in the restoration of our nations forests and economies.
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