Colorado forests are releasing more planet-heating carbon than they’re storing – The Colorado Sun

The Colorado Sun
Telling stories that matter in a dynamic, evolving state. Editor’s Picks: Capitol teen program faces the axe | Firefighter hiring freeze | A cheap, charming place to skiColorado’s 22.8 million acres of forests are emitting more carbon into the atmosphere than they’re absorbing, and researchers say their recent output is likely even higher than a new report by the Colorado State Forest Service shows. Researchers tracked carbon stored in various components of the forest ecosystem — trees, roots, soil — on an extensive network of field plots between 2002 and 2019. They then averaged the annual net carbon flux measured on the plots to come up with their statistics. Carbon flux is the flow of carbon as it moves between different carbon pools on Earth — i.e., oceans, the atmosphere, land and living beings — or, in forests, live trees (aboveground pool), tree roots (belowground pool), the atmosphere (decomposition of dead trees) or harvested wood products (cut trees). Researchers found live trees in the state’s forests store a massive amount of carbon, but dying trees caused forests overall to emit more carbon than they were absorbing. Future reports will show the forests are emitting more carbon than shown in the report released Jan. 9, because three of Colorado’s most severe wildfires — Pine Gulch, Cameron Peak and East Troublesome — burned over a half million acres after the last reporting cycle ended. Drought, wildfires, development and logging are all factors in forests becoming carbon sources, but Tony Vorster, lead author on the study, said disease and insects, including bark beetles, which have impacted 1.89 million acres of spruce-fir forests since 2000, were the biggest culprits in the most recent study.  According to the report, insects and disease were responsible for 85% of the total area impacted by disturbances and 64% of disturbance-related carbon losses.The news might sound alarming, but in an email to The Colorado Sun, Vorster said “there are important, relevant caveats to keep in mind with the statement that our forests are now emitting more carbon than they’re absorbing.”“For example, if we compared today’s forests to forests of 100 years ago, we might find our forests are carbon sinks” rather than sources, with “the cause of the carbon flux coming from any number of things … fire, harvest, bark beetles, etc,” he said. While plot research showed Colorado’s forested land as a whole was a carbon source over the years studied, measurements varied depending on where they were taken, he added.  “Some counties, like Gunnison, served as forest carbon sinks while others — Larimer — served as carbon sources,” he said. Forests with the most disturbance — from wildfire, harvest, disease, blowdowns and those spooky looking bark beetles  — were a bigger carbon source than those with less disturbance. And even tree type played a part, with aspens storing a different amount of carbon than Douglas firs, for example. It’s “expected and natural” for forests to cycle through periods of loss and gains of carbon, “because forests can’t perpetually (sequester) more and more carbon,” Vorster added. The state-mandated Forest Carbon Inventory also accounted for harvested wood products, like lumber or furniture, which continue to store carbon until they decompose or are burned. Harvested wood contributes less than 1% of the state’s overall carbon stock, and study authors said harvesting wood for products is a viable long-term carbon storage option that can also support local communities. Researchers say the Forest Carbon Inventory will help policymakers consider options for drawing down carbon to mitigate climate change and assist forest managers in developing long-term strategies for forest and carbon management. But Vorster said many of the drivers of the state’s carbon trends are “broad-scale and very difficult to influence.” The “footprint of forest management in Colorado is also small relative to the amount of forest we have … so forest management actions to promote forest carbon storage will be difficult to implement at large scales, he added.But rather than fixating on the challenges related to statewide carbon sinks or carbon sources he encourages people to think about things they can influence, like specific forests, properties or project areas. Think of a frequent-fire ponderosa pine forest that has many more trees now than it did in the past because no recent fires have burned in it, he said. “A possible fate of this forest is one where severe wildfire kills all of the trees on a site, converting the forest to other vegetation. A strategy to improve carbon storage for this forest failing to come back after fire would be replanting tree seedlings.” But the focus of this report was to conduct an accounting of Colorado’s forest carbon, not to identify policy implications or management recommendations, he said. “Now that we have this information, we will see how policymakers move forward. The next phase of this work is that the Colorado State Forest Service is now developing a ‘forest carbon co-benefits framework’ which will identify forest management practice recommendations through the lens of forest carbon.” Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Tracy Ross writes about the intersection of people and the natural world, industry, social justice and rural life from the perspective of someone who grew up in rural Idaho, lived in the Alaskan bush, reported in regions from Iran to Ecuador…
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Source: http://coloradosun.com/2025/02/25/colorado-forests-emitting-more-carbon-than-theyre-storing/