News Finding: Despite an established forest conservation theory holding that tree harvesting should be strictly minimized to prevent the loss of biodiversity and to maintain carbon storage capacity, the new study shows that sustainable management of wood resources can achieve both goals while also reducing fossil fuel burning.
Paper Finding: With efficient product use and harvesting, more CO 2 is saved in the avoided emissions, products, and wood energy than is lost instantaneously from the harvested forest.
News Context: Despite an established forest conservation theory holding that tree harvesting should be strictly minimized to prevent the loss of biodiversity and to maintain carbon storage capacity, the new study shows that sustainable management of wood resources can achieve both goals while also reducing fossil fuel burning. They found that increasing the wood harvest to the equivalent of 34% or more of annual wood growth would have profound and positive effects:
  
  * Between 14% and 31% of global CO 2 emissions could be avoided by preventing emissions related to steel and concrete; by storing CO 2 in the cellulose and lignin of wood products; and other factors. * About 12% to 19% of annual global fossil fuel consumption would be saved including savings achieved because scrap wood and unsellable materials could be burned for energy, replacing fossil fuel consumption.
Paper Context: A wide range of savings can be obtained depending on the specific wood building material, the nonwood product being replaced, the amount of harvest that can be used for products (merchantable logs), and the efficiency of burning the scrap-wood and unmerchantable logs for energy. With efficient product use and harvesting, more CO 2 is saved in the avoided emissions, products, and wood energy than is lost instantaneously from the harvested forest. Energy from burning the nonproduct scrap-wood and unmerchantable wood contributes an additional CO 2 and FF savings during the manufacture of wood products (Figure 5a-b) , but not as effectively as if this wood had been used to make most products.