Framing Forest Carbon for Policy in Temperate North America: Baby Steps toward National Carbon Goals

A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Forest Economics, Policy, and Social Science".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2022) | Viewed by 8782

Special Issue Editors

1. School of Forest Resources, University of Maine, 168 College Ave, Orono, ME 04469, USA;
2. The Irland Group, 174 Lord Rd, Wayne, ME 04284, USA
Interests: forest management and markets; environmental certification; forest carbon policy; forest and wildland water resource governance
The Irland Group, 174 Lord Rd, Wayne, ME 04284, USA
Interests: the effectiveness of forest carbon offsets, both compliance and voluntary markets; the interaction of forest carbon goals and biodiversity conservation; socioeconomic impacts of implementation of climate goals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

How forest carbon offsets can meet national, regional, and state or provincial CO2 emissions reduction goals has been a focus of increasing research and advocacy attention for a decade or more. Because the biological, environmental, governance, and forest management options vary so widely across the commitments, these questions must be faced with a strong local emphasis. For this reason, we seek papers addressing the issues in temperate North America. Forests seeks submissions of manuscripts that address, in productive ways, the interface between science and policy in this field. We seek papers that attempt to frame important issues in the context of a real world with multiple policy goals and constraints, including costs, and that assemble and intelligently review a range of relevant existing literature on the topic. In other words, we will place more weight on synthesis and on careful policy analysis than on novel empirical or simulation results. An alertness to place-based factors as they vary across temperate North America will be expected.

Process: please send a one page abstract or outline of proposed piece and we will respond. Proposals offering results on single stands or forest types, big data modeling exercises, or without clear policy analysis and framing will be referred to the normal Forests editorial process for review and consideration in the normal course.

Dr. Lloyd Irland
Dr. John Hagan
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Forests is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • forest carbon silviculture
  • carbon offset policy
  • carbon accounting
  • national and state policies

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Editorial

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4 pages, 641 KiB  
Editorial
Framing Forest Carbon for Policy in Temperate North America: Baby Steps toward National Carbon Goals
by Lloyd C. Irland and John Hagan
Forests 2021, 12(8), 1033; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/f12081033 - 04 Aug 2021
Viewed by 1311
Abstract
Why have a special issue on North American options for reducing national CO2 footprints through forest management [...] Full article

Research

Jump to: Editorial

20 pages, 3146 KiB  
Article
Storing More Carbon by Improving Forest Management in the Acadian Forest of New England, USA
by Robert Alec Giffen, Colleen M. Ryan, Ethan P. Belair, Michael A. Pounch and Seth Brown
Forests 2022, 13(12), 2031; https://doi.org/10.3390/f13122031 - 30 Nov 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2859
Abstract
The capacity of forests to store carbon, combined with time-tested approaches to managing forests, make forests a useful tool for atmospheric carbon mitigation. The primary goals of this study are to determine the amount of unrealized mitigation available from Improved Forest Management (IFM) [...] Read more.
The capacity of forests to store carbon, combined with time-tested approaches to managing forests, make forests a useful tool for atmospheric carbon mitigation. The primary goals of this study are to determine the amount of unrealized mitigation available from Improved Forest Management (IFM) in the Acadian Forest of New England in the northeastern U.S., and to demonstrate how this mitigation can feasibly be attained. This study used the Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS) to model the impacts of IFM practices articulated by the New England Forestry Foundation on carbon storage in the Acadian Forest. Our results, together with empirical data from well-managed forests, show that if the modeled improved management is employed on privately owned timberland across the Acadian Forest of New England, carbon storage could be increased by 488 Tg CO2e. Our financial modeling shows that IFM could be funded in this region by combining income from carbon markets with the philanthropic funding of conservation easements, timber revenues, and capital investments from private investors who prioritize social and economic goals alongside financial returns. This study adds to the body of evidence from around the world that the potential for managed forests to contribute to climate change mitigation has not been fully realized. Full article
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17 pages, 4934 KiB  
Article
Carbon Sequestration Using Exotic Larches in Central Maine
by David I. Maass and Kenneth M. Laustsen
Forests 2022, 13(9), 1413; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/f13091413 - 02 Sep 2022
Viewed by 1382
Abstract
The carbon sequestration potential of exotics might be considered as one of the several alternatives for forest adaptation to climate change. The results presented here demonstrate that exotic larches’ (Larix spp.) growth rates for both carbon accumulation and traditional forest products exceed [...] Read more.
The carbon sequestration potential of exotics might be considered as one of the several alternatives for forest adaptation to climate change. The results presented here demonstrate that exotic larches’ (Larix spp.) growth rates for both carbon accumulation and traditional forest products exceed those of both natural regeneration and other planted species when planted on a good site in Maine. Recent re-measurement of a species-site trial established in 1988 represents the 34th growing season. Species included Black Spruce (BS) (Picea mariana Mill.), European larch (EL) (Larix decidua Mill.), hybrid larch (HL) (L. x marschelensi), Japanese larch (JL) (L. kaempferi (Lam.) Carrière), Jack pine (JP) (Pinus banksiana Lamb.), Red pine (RP) (Pinus resinosa Ait.), Tamarack (TL) (L. larcinia (Du Roi) K. Koch), and White spruce (WS)(Picea glauca (Moench) Voss). All three of the exotic larches outgrew the other species. Hybrid larch had over nearly twice the merchantable volume (m3 ha−1) and over three times the sawlog volume (green tonnes ha−1) than Red pine. Hybrid larch had the highest growth rate at age 34, over 20 m3 per hectare per year (nearly 3.3 cords ac−1 year−1 or 6.8 tons−1 acre−1 year−1). The other two exotic larches are growing at over 19 m3 ha−1 year−1 (3 cords acre−1 year−1 or 6.4 tons acre−1 year−1). Converting these growth rates to accumulation of CO2eq over the 34-year period produces stunning contrasts compared to native species. Over the 34-year period, larch hybrids sequestered 2.4 times as much CO2eq as the untreated plots (444 vs. 186 tonnes−1 ha−1). We discuss practical implications for forest management and carbon policies. Full article
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17 pages, 1340 KiB  
Article
Forest Owner Willingness to Accept Payment for Forest Carbon in the United States: A Meta-Analysis
by Sadikshya Sharma and Melissa M. Kreye
Forests 2022, 13(9), 1346; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/f13091346 - 24 Aug 2022
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2578
Abstract
Forests in the United States provide important carbon sequestration services that could be leveraged for climate change mitigation. There is increased interest among decision makers and investors to extend forest carbon payment programs to family forest owners (FFOs), the largest category of private [...] Read more.
Forests in the United States provide important carbon sequestration services that could be leveraged for climate change mitigation. There is increased interest among decision makers and investors to extend forest carbon payment programs to family forest owners (FFOs), the largest category of private forest owners. Since FFOs manage forests for multiple objectives, it is unclear which contract requirements and payment levels will appeal to early adopters and perhaps establish the direction of innovation. To answer this question, we conducted a comprehensive review of the research literature assessing forest owner preferences for carbon payment programs. Out of 22 papers reviewed, a total of 13 stated preference studies were included in the meta-analysis. Robust regression modeling and benefit transfer techniques were used to generate estimates for carbon payment contracts for different categories of FFOs. Results show significant variation in forest owner willingness to accept (WTA) as a function of management objectives, contract length, number of forest acres, management plan requirement, and management restrictions. Average annual per acre payment values were lowest for conservation-oriented forest owners, followed by passive and production-oriented forest owners. Overall, findings suggest the need for diverse types of contracts and payment levels in order to have widespread participation in carbon programs by forest owners. Full article
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