Greenpeace

The National Forests are our Commons and Our Planetary Lungs for oxygen production and carbon absorbtion along with the ocean plankton and other woodlands. Tree carbon in the form of roots in the ground and houses and furniture can last for centuries keeping it out of the atmosphere. In the wilderness systems of the National forests and the National Parks, old growth forests can store wood in both live and dead trees for many centuries. In general the cooler and moister regions store carbon better being less susceptible to fire, insect decay and hurricanes.

The US is the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide and has not signed the Kyoto Protocol. To combat global warming the US government should adopt a Forest Carbon Reserve plan to store carbon, clean water and topsoil in our forests. We should continue like Teddy Roosevelt with the goal of perhaps doubling the National Forests and other public forest land like National Parks, National Wildlife Refuges and state forests. In Canada most forest in owned by the public and usable by all and though its current logging practices may be questioned, the public may improve these.

Perhaps the largest opportunity to increase public forest lies east of the Mississippi River where much of the forest is privately owned and facing financial pressures such as foreign competition. Much of the eastern farmland was formerly forested and is at high risk of soil erosion. Soil erosion involves loss of carbon, nitrogen and basic soil structure and results in pollution from the extra nutrients whch cause eutrophication of which an extreme example is the Dead Zone of the Gulf of Mexico The eastern US is well watered for forest growth, has lower fire intensity than the west, and has high populations of humans and wildlife seeking recreation and habitat. From neotropical songbirds to mussels and salamanders, the moist eastern woods are high in diversity.

As our county reaches 300 million we need to recognize that acquiring forest and parks will never be cheaper. The alternative may be sprawl and Keep Out signs in areas as remote as the north Maine Woods, where companies like Plum Creek Timber have proposed large recreational housing developments.

Global competition is becoming a huge factor as pointed out by forestry professor Jerry Franklin of the University of Washington. Cheap sources of sawtimber and pulpwood are coming from plantations in South America, natural forests in Canada and Russia and many other places. Cheap labor and huge land bases as well as limited environmental restrictions provide very challenging for US forest products companies.

Recently International Paper announced the sale of 5 million acres of eastern timber lands to add to the long list of tree farm conversions. Weyerhaueser has also sold large acreages near Seattle and has been acquiring and leasing cheaper lands in other countries for years. Phased voluntary buyouts of large private forests by groups like Nature Conservancy and Trust for Public Land are a growing trend and a huge opportuntity for environmental improvement.

Obviously the largest funds available for forest acquisition would ultimately be the federal and state governments through such means as the Land and Water Conservation Fund and the Forest Legacy project of the US Forest Service. Timber harvest and roads can be reduced or eliminated in some sections.