[Terrapreta] if yer not forest...

[David Yarrow]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Brian Hans 
Sent: Sunday, September 23, 2007 5:12 PM
Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] CO2 rising
>> Coal and other fossil fuels come from swamps and peatbeds. So unless the forest floats down the river and becomes a swamp... Im not sure where you going with this comment. 

an unproven theory that all those coal beds were swamps.  a plausible, usedful theory, but there's much not accounted for by it.

And David, we are talking about sinks. So the question isnt how do I acct for the forest soils...its how much is sinking into those soils y/y? Biopact says 0%. 

seems obvious to me biopact is wrong -- another imperfect generalization.  

there are many forest types which are piling up thick beds of organic carbon.  i've seen them, walked in them, dug in them.

there are other forest types with very low carbon accumulation rates.  there are forests which are growing very slowly due to limited supplies of water and minerals.  there are other forests where decay is releasing carbon and nutrients at rates approaching their rates of growth, and those releases are being lost to oxidation, leaching and other losses.

but i doubt there are many forest types with 0% -- a very implausible figure to paste over all the obvious diversity and adaptation that nature offers.  in certain soil and climate conditions, it may be true that a forest ecosystem reaches a maturity of equilibrium where annual growth (carbon fixing) becomes equal to decay (carbon release).

actually, such an assertion by biopact -- if fully true -- frightens me, since it becomes the basis to argue that foersts can thus all be cut down and replaced by man-made, engineered, managed, more efficient carbon fixing systems.  and i know full well there are lots of folks who see forests only as extractable resources.  as i wrote earlier, such madness is like saying our liver, lungs and kidneys are just so much protein, fat and minerals that can be ground up for a few nice dinners.

by the way, one characteristic to identify an ancient forest is the presence of thick beds decaying woody debris.  there should be at least as much organic matter on and under the forest floor as above it as growing trees.  in fact, in many situations, certain species don't even get established until they have beds of decayed woody debris to nurse their seedlings adequately.

David Yarrow
"If yer not forest, yer against us."
Turtle EyeLand Sanctuary
44 Gilligan Road, East Greenbush, NY 12061
dyarrow at nycap.rr.com
www.championtrees.org
www.OnondagaLakePeaceFestival.org
www.citizenre.com/dyarrow/
www.farmandfood.org
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"Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, 
if one only remembers to turn on the light."  
-Albus Dumbledore

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