A Carbon Management Diagram for Oak-hickory Forests in Southern Ohio

Abstract

Abstract A carbon management diagram for use in oak-hickory forests in southern Ohio has been developed to allow easier quantification of total forest carbon stock. The total carbon stock is positively correlated to basal area and average stand diameter but poorly correlated to the number of trees per acre. The total amount of carbon stored in these forests is going to be influenced by age and site quality to the extent that age and site influence basal area and the average tree size. Accordingly, not all stands considered to be fully to overstocked store the most carbon. Rather, it is a combination of basal area and average tree size that determines the total carbon stored, with the carbon stock in the forest increasing with an increase in both basal area and average tree diameter. Examples illustrating the use of the diagram are presented for two oak forests on oak site indexes 60 and 80. Both forests are overstocked at age 100 years, but the forest on site index 60 stores 77 tons/ac of total carbon compared with 103 tons/ac on site index 80.