Duration of Climate Change Mitigation Benefits from Increasing Boreal Forest Harvest Age by 10 Years

Abstract

We presented a case study and associated method for stand scale assessment of the duration of the climate change mitigation benefit provided by increasing forest harvest age (i.e., the age a stand is harvested). We used stand yield curves and newly developed equations to estimate carbon stocks in various boreal forest ecosystem pools in Ontario, Canada. The proposed method was applied to forest identified as available for harvesting in management plans for three forest management units with a combined area of more than 1900 km2. Our analysis indicated that a 10-year increase in harvest age did not provide a mitigation benefit (reduced carbon stock) in about half the available harvest area (45.5%, 61.9%, and 62.1% of the total available harvest area in the management units). Increasing the harvest age by 10 years resulted in a mitigation benefit lasting longer than 25 years for 15.1%, 16.0%, and 13.0% of the total available harvest area in the management units. The results suggest that increasing harvest age may have limited mitigation potential in Ontario’s managed boreal forests in the short-term but can reduce overall carbon stocks in the longer term.