Revised in August, 2022.
The public is less familiar with the role forest ecosystems and harvested wood products play in the planet’s carbon cycle, and that with appropriate long-term management these forest-related elements have the potential to mitigate some of the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide.
This report, Carbon in Oregon’s Managed Forests, synthesizes the current information on carbon sequestration and storage in Oregon’s working forests and in harvested wood products. Managed forests, also called working forests, are those forestlands that are managed for producing timber products and other benefits. These include private, state and some federal lands. Research shows that most Oregonians are concerned about climate change. They recognize that climate change is happening, driven to a large part by human-caused (anthropogenic) increases in the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere from the combustion of fossil fuels, and that average temperatures around the planet have been increasing as a result.