Putting Forests to Work

Putting FORESTS to work FORESTS ARE THE Currently, there are 751 LARGEST | MILLION ACRES OF FORESTLAND IN THE US TERRESTRIAL CARBON SINK BY FAR THAT'S EQUAL TO ALL In fact, forests absorb nearly 90% more carbon than the next largest source. OF THESE STATES A CARBON SINK IS anything THAT ABSORBS MORE CARBON THAN IT RELEASES -1990 through 2012 Today U.S. forests COUNTERACT the annual U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by roughly Our forests' contribution has grown, INCREASING CARBON CAPTURE by 14% 13% FORESTS COULD BECOME A Tomorrow, We can do even better. HUGE SMurce of carbon IF WE ARE NOT CAREFUL 58 MILLION Forested ACRES ARE AT RISK OF WILDFIRE All of which are exacerbated by CLIMATE CHANGE DEVASTATION DEVELOPMENT THREATENS FROM PESTS AND PATHOGENS is a larger threat to forests than wildfires are 400 That's an area larger than South Carolina and Georgia combined. INSECTS & DISEASE MILLION ACRES FACTS TO UNDERSTAND WHERE OUR FORESTS STAND TODAY PRIVATELY OWNED FORESTS 59% OF FOREST LANDS ARE PRIVATELY OWNED but provide this critical carbon benefit for everyone Privately owned forests account for We could lose up to 70% 34 MILLION of annual forest carbon capture s OF private forests BY 2060 That's almost the size of Wisconsin LARGELY DUE TO DEVELOPMENT These at-risk private forests hold That is equivalent to more than 7.57 BILLION TONS OF CO? 3X the annual emissions of all 572 coal-fired power plants in the U.S. today PRODUCTS MADE OF WOOD Products made of wood currently capture 70 MILLION METRIC TONS OF CO? from the air annually USING MORE WOOD WHICH IS EQUIVALENT TO COULD CAPTURE AT 18.6 COAL-FIRED POWER PLANTS LEAST 21.1 MILLION MORE METRIC TONS OF CO? The U.S. made a global promise that by 2020, AMERICA WOULD REDUCE EMISSIONS BY 17% below 2005 levels THE FORESTS' ABILITY TO PLAYS AN ESSENTIAL ROLE IN MEETING THAT GOAL CAPTURE CARBON Recommendations to get more out of our forests PROVIDE SOUND DATA AND SCIENCE PROMOTE FOREST PRODUCTS RESTORE AND MANAGE PRIVATE FORESTS Strengthen markets for wood over less environmentally friendly materials Support private landowners to implement management practices and increase preparedness Prioritize information and tools to continue development of climate-informed strategies RETAIN EXISTING FORESTS DEVELOP LANDSCAPE-SCALE CONSERVATION APPROACHES INCREASE URBAN FORESTS Prevent forests from being developed through encouragement of: Encourage collaboration to view forests as systems instead of individual disjointed properties Promote programs that support increasing the urban forest canopy permanent protection carbon storage incentives strong forest product markets THE TRUST for PUBLIC LAND Learn how forests can play a role in a climate change solution, visit www.forestfoundation.org/forestsandclimate American Forest Foundation Sources We grow stewardship every day. http://www.fs.fed.us/research/publications/gtr/gtr_wo87.pdf http://www.firelab.org/fmi/data-products/229-wildland-fire-potential-wfp http://www.statemaster.com/graph/geo_lan_acr_tot-geography-land-acreage-total DEVELOPO RY http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/Downloads/ghgemissions/US-GHG-Inventory-2014-Chapter-7-Land-Use-Land-Use-Change-and-Forestry.pdf N NOWSOURCING All the other calculations can be found in our detailed recommendations on ForestFoundation.org