News Finding: Through efficient harvesting and product use, more CO 2 is saved through the avoided emissions, materials, and wood energy than is lost from the harvested forest.
Paper Finding: If the forest would burn unless harvested or partially harvested, even greater CO 2 savings would be achieved by harvesting.
News Context: Wood-based construction consumes much less energy than concrete or steel construction. Through efficient harvesting and product use, more CO 2 is saved through the avoided emissions, materials, and wood energy than is lost from the harvested forest. "This study shows still another reason to appreciate forests -- and another reason to not let them be permanently cleared for agriculture," said Chadwick Oliver, the Pinchot Professor of Forestry and Environmental Studies, director of the Global Institute of Sustainable Forestry at F&ES and lead author of the new study.
Paper Context: Even harvesting for inefficient products or wood energy that create an initial net CO 2 loss (Figure 7b ) can sequester more CO 2 in the combination of products, wood energy, and forest than in the unharvested forest provided the stand regrows long enough (Figure 8c ) through the "debtthen-dividend" pattern . If the forest would burn unless harvested or partially harvested, even greater CO 2 savings would be achieved by harvesting. And, across a landscape, harvesting so that a diversity of stand structures is created and maintained would both reduce fire danger and increase biodiversity .