Climate change is working its physical alterations on forests in East Texas and other places via drought, high temperatures, and intense rainstorms.  One way we can stabilize climate and begin to reduce changes we have caused via increased carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and other climate change air pollution, is to protect, nurture, and increase the number of mature/old growth forests/trees on our federal, state, local, and private forests and other environs.

In East Texas, mature/old growth forests/trees are roughly 80 years old and 100-years-old or older respectively.  Private forestry in much of East Texas grows trees to 25-30-years-old (for sawtimber like two-by-fours) as well as younger pulpwood.

Using a 30-year-old tree as our baseline, the age of this tree is 37.5% of the age of an 80-year-old mature tree; 30% of the age of a 100-year-old old growth tree; and since many trees can grow to 200 years of age or older, 15% of the age of a 200-year-old old growth tree.  There is a lot of potential carbon storage left in many trees as they grow to mature/old growth age and size for decades or centuries.   

A change from fossil fuels, oil, gas, and coal, to solar, wind, energy conservation, and other less polluting ways to use energy, and a reduction in population and consumption by that population is immensely important.

A primary means to naturally control CO2 is to slow down and stop forest degradation, deforestation, increase carbon storage, via both alive and dead trees, and increase the age and size of trees in forests and other environs.  This will increase the organic carbon found in the trees and in soil via root systems, dead material recycling within the soil, and the biological life that exists in soil.

Other positive benefits due to the protection and increase of mature/old growth forests/trees include an increase and additional protection for biodiversity, hydrological water protection and cleansing, and air cleansing by forests/trees and other vegetation.  Climate change reduction and biodiversity protection should be addressed together.  If we protect biodiversity, including mature/old growth forests/trees, we maintain ecological processes/functions which hold ecosystems together and reduce climate change.

Forests/trees in the South have the potential to grow and accumulate carbon for decades and centuries.  This means that forest carbon densities are much lower than they could potentially be and we benefit from more mature/old growth forests/trees as they age and get larger in size and store carbon.

Science has discovered that mature/old growth forests store more carbon in trees and soil than younger forests and accumulate carbon for many decades to centuries.  This makes their protection a very effective climate mitigation strategy.  In addition, young forests decrease streamflow in comparison with mature/old growth forests so additional older forests means more water for aquatic and riparian communities and humans.

The use of wood for energy (biomass/bioenergy) increases climate change.  Biomass use of wood to substitute for coal CO2 increases CO2 air pollution and makes climate change worse.  This is because wood chips/pellets burn less efficiently than coal.  Wood, if it’s used to replace other fossil fuels, releases 25% more CO2/unit of primary energy than fuel oil and 75% more CO2 than fossil fuel natural gas.

There is a carbon debt payback time (lag time) between when wood is burned which generates CO2 and the removal of that CO2 by regrowth of trees.  Depending on the forests/trees used to make wood pellets, the carbon debt payback time can be decades to more than a century.  Short rotation times (time a tree is allowed to grow before it is logged) between bioenergy logging causes more CO2 air pollution to be released in the atmosphere.

Climate change gets worse if wood is used for bioenergy even if logged forests are managed sustainably.  This is because the total stock of carbon on the landscape is at a lower level than prior to logging.  Carbon is lost from the land during this process and is added to the atmosphere which makes climate change worse.

Large-scale thinning operations (logging 20-50% of the trees in an area), which are done to reduce fire severity, cause more carbon air pollution than forest wildfires.  This additional CO2 air pollution causes a several decade carbon deficit that interferes with the reduction of CO2.

In moderate to severe fires, which kill some or many trees, most of the carbon is left in the forest as either live or dead wood.  The dead wood takes decades to centuries to decompose.  Studies in the Pacific Northwest have shown that less than 10% of the ecosystem carbon (carbon in live and dead trees, litter, and soils) is released as air pollution due to forest fires.

Logging related CO2 air pollution in Oregon, Washington, and California creates about 5 times more CO2 than wildfires.  A reduction in logging would result in a reduction in CO2 air pollution.

The statements above point to the importance of maintaining and increasing the number of mature/old growth forests/trees.  They are an important source of carbon storage that allows CO2 to be held and released slowly over decades and centuries.  This helps reduce climate change air pollution and provides us with cleaner water, air, and more biologically diverse and vibrant public and private forests/trees. 

The document, “The Status of Science on Forest Carbon Management to Mitigate Climate Change and Protect Water and Biodiversity”, Beverly E. Law, William R. Moonow, Tara W. Hudiburg, William H. Schlesinger, John D. Sterman, and George Woodwell, March 9, 2022, was used and quoted from extensively in the preparation of this article.