Sawtimber demand promotes forest carbon gains

Photo Credit

David Stephens, Bugwood.org

Timber markets, which rely on pine plantations like this one, can actually increase carbon storage in forests by incentivizing more planting.

For more than a decade, the scientific community has debated the impacts of forest product markets, especially wood pellets, on forest carbon. New SRS research examines forest carbon outcomes from land use change in the Southeast.

Land use models show that when pine prices increase, pine plantation land expands, but new pine plantations must come from some other land use. These results suggest that other forest types, especially natural pine, are partially replaced, in addition to some agricultural land. Previous work has not differentiated among forest types in this way.

The model suggests that over time, higher forest product demand, with the exception of pulpwood for paper or wood pellets, tends to lead to increased forest carbon. The land use model developed through this work is now part of the Sub-Regional Timber Supply (SRTS) model, which is used to analyze timber markets in the South for forest industry and other scientists.