Cost to produce carbon credits through fluctuating harvest levels in British Columbia, Canada

Abstract

The forest inventory of an actively managed forest estate in the Coast Forest Region of British Columbia was used to investigate the potential of fluctuating harvest levels to produce carbon credits. Fluctuating harvest levels allowed the target harvest level to fluctuate between the baseline and a starting target harvest level (set at a lower level than the baseline) over the 25 year life of the carbon project. Carbon credits continued to be produced for 4–15 years following the harvest adjustment from the starting level to the baseline level. The production of carbon credits for the fluctuating harvest schedules was highest when the starting harvest level was held for 10–15 years, and the baseline level was held for the remainder of the carbon project life. Carbon credit production was sensitive to the initial age class structure of the forest estate, the harvest priority algorithm, the starting target harvest level, and the timing of harvest adjustment from the starting level to the baseline level. The...