[Terrapreta] Sustainable Forest Management

[rongretlarson at comcast.net]

Jon, Lou, etal

   1.  This being written from China - which is prominent in the article cited by Lou.  

   2.  I haven't seen enough of China to be an expert - but I have seen a lot of trees - and the countryside looks quite healthy (and bustling).

   3.  The article fails to mention anything about managing forests with a heavy use of biochar production and the plowing back of a lot of biochar into the forests. I believe the article's analysis of albedo effect without considering char production and sequestration is too outdated to mean anything.

Ron

-------------- Original message -------------- 
From: "Jon C. Frank" <jon.frank at aglabs.com> 

Lou,

I think that sustainably managed forests should include the following practices:

1) Be selectively thinned of the misshapen growth.  This material would be great to use as biomass to make charcoal.  This charcoal could be mixed with remineralizing rock powders and returned to the forest floor.  By keeping the forest somewhat thinned it will increase the growth rate of the remaining trees.

2) Quality trees should be selectively harvested for timber.  This should be done on a here a tree there a tree basis.  Harvesting quality timber is a good way to lock up carbon for a longer duration.

3) Forests must be remineralized with rock powders in order to keep growth at an active rate.  A heavy remineralization should last about 30-40 years.  This remineralization can include, charcoal, limestone, gypsum, glacial rock dusts, and other specialty rock powders.

I believe this type of management is better than just leaving a forest alone.  The production of timber can help pay for the remineralization.

Lou, I share your awe of the forest.

Jon
-----Original Message-----
From: terrapreta-bounces at bioenergylists.org [mailto:terrapreta-bounces at bioenergylists.org]On Behalf Of lou gold
Sent: Thursday, September 20, 2007 12:46 PM
To: Sean K. Barry
Cc: terrapreta at bioenergylists.org
Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] CO2 rising


Hi Everyone,

The relationships between forests and global warming are quite complex and function differently at different points in the life-cycle of a forest.  

For example, while it is true that young fast growing forests draw more carbon from the atmosphere than do old-growth forests, the latter is a much bigger sink (long-term but temporary) of sequestered carbon. Put simplistically, a young fast-growing tree will have to grow for 500 years in order to store as much carbon as an existing 500 year old tree. But this is a as an overly simplistic way to look at a forest which is an extremely complex ecosystem. 

The study referenced may have been the one about the "albedo effect" or the extent to which forests absorb or reflect heat and it works quite differently in temperate forests than in the tropics. Forest may contribute to warming in the colder climates whereas they are cooling forces in the tropics. 

Truly significant carbon emissions from forests do occur another part of nature's cycle -- forest fires. As temperatures and droughts increase, so do fires creating a positive feedback loop. Under some models of global warming, forests become so stressed and fires become so prevalent that forests become not only net emitters, but huge 'tipping-point' emitters of CO2. At present, tropical deforestation for logging and agriculture uses fire as a clearing or 'management' tool. It's approximated 70% of Brazil's significant greenhouse gas pollution is from forest fires. The important thing to appreciate is that most of nature's carbon sinks are temporary and function in long-term equilibrium only if left undisturbed. 

We should not get caught up in thinking about trees separate from the "biosphere" of atmosphere, plants, water and soil. The main reason to preserve old-growth or primary forest ecosystems is that they have attained a mature order (equilibrium) that maximizes internal recycling, increased soil fertility, water retention, a complex biodiversity AND retention of sequestered carbon. When the system is disturbed all kinds of things are released in a chaotic and potentially catastrophic fashion. It's all connected. 

Here's a good article: http://www.conbio.org/CIP/article82sin.cfm

Hope this helps.

lou
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From: "Jon C. Frank" <jon.frank at aglabs.com>
Subject: [Terrapreta] Sustainable Forest Management
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