Global climate change is well underway. Climate scientists are telling us that humanity has only about one to three decades to avoid runaway climate warming. Forest management however, can play a unique positive role in mitigating the effects of climate change. Forests naturally both absorb and release carbon, resulting in a dynamic balance that changes over time, depending on stand age and on type and intensity of disturbance. Depending on how a forest naturally functions, and how it is managed, it can either contribute to or reduce greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. For example, old-growth forests steadily accumulate carbon for centuries. When old-growth forests are logged, there is a net release of carbon to the atmosphere for decades and sometimes for over a century. Logging results not only in losses to above and below ground carbon stocks, but also in lower rates of absorption & storage for one to several decades, until rates of net carbon uptake in the secondary forest return to pre-harvest rates.

SkeenaWild works with scientists, foresters, government, and community groups to share the best available information and ensure that carbon accounting is done openly and transparently. In collaboration with Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition, we partnered with renowned Forest Ecologist Dr. Jim Pojar to develop the report Forestry and Carbon in BC. The report lays out seven forest carbon myths, misconceptions or oversimplifications. Dr. Pojar also provides a series of recommendations and potential solutions to help reach BC’s climate targets through improved forest management.