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Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Pacific Northwest Douglas-fir Forestry Operations

Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Pacific Northwest Douglas-fir Forestry Operations. Edie Sonne Hall University of Washington College of Forest Resources USDA GHG Symposium 3/23/05. What about emissions from forest activities?. Photo by Grant Sharpe. Today’s talk.

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Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Pacific Northwest Douglas-fir Forestry Operations

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  1. Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Pacific Northwest Douglas-fir Forestry Operations Edie Sonne Hall University of Washington College of Forest Resources USDA GHG Symposium 3/23/05

  2. What about emissions from forest activities? Photo by Grant Sharpe

  3. Today’s talk • Framework for a detailed inventory of GHG emissions from forestry operations 2. Examine the relative contribution of direct emissions to total upstream emissions 3. Discuss the relative contribution of total GHG emissions to change in biomass carbon sequestration 4. Identify potential areas of opportunity

  4. Impacts of Forest Management on Atmospheric Greenhouse Gases Sources • Carbon dioxide: fossil fuel combustion (transportation, harvesting, site preparation, seedling production, fertilizer, herbicide, pesticide production), biomass decomposition, biomass burning • Nitrous oxide: fertilization, biomass burning • Methane: reducing soil sink, biomass burning Sinks/Stores: living biomass, dead biomass, soil carbon, wood products

  5. Methodology • Life Cycle Assessment • Method to assess holistic environmental performance of a product or a service • ISO 14040 (Goal and Scope Definition), 14041 (Inventory Analysis), 14042 (Impact Assessment), 14043 (Interpretation) • Mass-balance model that assesses inputs and outputs from “cradle to grave” of a product or service • All results are normalized to the same functional unit

  6. System Boundaries

  7. 408 Total Management Regimes

  8. Decision Alternatives:Seedling Type 1+1 Large Plug P+1

  9. Decision AlternativesSite Preparation Pile and Burn - 8 gallons diesel/acre - 1 gallon propane/acre - 10 tons biomass/acre Chemical - 1.5 qts Accord/acre - 2.8 oz Oust/acre

  10. Decision AlternativesGrowth Enhancements Seventeen Combinations of Initial Stand Density (350,500,700) Fertilization Herbicide Treatment Pre-commercial thinning (PCT) Commercial thinning (CT) No enhancements Four rotation ages (30, 40, 50, 60)

  11. Scope of Study- west-side Douglas-fir plantations

  12. Direct and Indirect Emissions

  13. Are direct emissions representative of the total upstream global warming impact of forestry activities? * Normalized to 50 yrs

  14. Can forest management alternatives significantly alter total GHG emissions? Difference from reference regime (in kg)

  15. Are GHG emissions significant compared with carbon uptake from forest growth?

  16. What are the biggest contributors to GHG emissions? Photos by Grant Sharpe

  17. Opportunities For Western WA and OR timberlands…. • Eliminating pile and burn site prep would reduce GHG emissions by 35,400 tons CO2e per year • Reducing nitrous oxide emissions from fertilizer application (slow-release fertilizers) would reduce GHG emissions by 47,000 tons CO2e/year

  18. The End For more information please contact me edie@u.washington.edu This project is funded by the National Council on Air and Stream Improvement

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