Giant Swath of Forest Protected in Canadian Plan

[sparky]

A huge swath of Canada’s northern Boreal forest, which absorbs 12.5 million tons of CO2 annually, will be permanently protected from tree harvesting & mining as part of a plan to combat climate change, the Province of Ontario’s premier Dalton McGuinty.

Giant Swath of Forest Protected in Canadian Plan : Red, Green, and Blue

[brianidaho]

This seems silly for a number of reasons:

1) Mature forests are not net absorbers of CO2-trees absorb CO2 while growing, but release the same amount of carbon, in the form of CO2 and methane when they die, either via burning or decay. If the goal is carbon absorbtion it would make more sense to harvest climax trees and replant.

2) They are taking a large amount of potential builiding material off the market as it were. Sustainable timber production will have to be replaced with more destructive materials such as concrete or steel.

3) If you accept AGW as a real issue, portions of these forests will die as the climate changes and the existing species of trees become unsuitable for the resulting climate. By "protecting" these forests they eliminate the option of removing dead or dying trees from the forest. It would seem to make more sense to harvest trees in this situation and replant with appropriate species suitable for the "new" local climate.

But what the heck, it sounds good to the masses....

[screener]

A good part of this decision is the coming to terms with the Indian nations in the area. Development along the lines reported, ie eco-tourism, is a little tougher in great huge clear-cuts. I wouldn't be surprised if there isn't some selective logging at least to help with financing and problems like disease and aging stands of timber.

Canada doesn't have a great record for taking care of its forests, older mature trees are harvested with machines the size of small houses that crush starting and growing replacements over large areas.

I think the problem is one of excess, there is a mentality that we have an excess of harvestable trees, hopefully this is a step in the other direction.

[spadlet]

Originally Posted by brianidaho

3) If you accept AGW as a real issue, portions of these forests will die as the climate changes and the existing species of trees become unsuitable for the resulting climate. By "protecting" these forests they eliminate the option of removing dead or dying trees from the forest. It would seem to make more sense to harvest trees in this situation and replant with appropriate species suitable for the "new" local climate.

However forests create their own internal microclimates with higher humidity levels, reduced ground frost, lower windspeeds etc. This might buffer the forest from some degree of external climate change. If things really do get so bad as some of the AGW reports suggest then large areas of forest that span different local climates would enable species to migrate from areas that become unhospitable to those where the climate becomes more to their liking. That's the general approach that conservationists seem to be taking in Europe with the creation of Biodiversity Action Plans that focus on creating a network of different habitats connected by migration corridors.