Temperate Forests

The longest autumn, coming to an end

11.12.2012

I don’t remember an autumn that has lasted as long as this one in Central Kentucky.  After the severe drought in the early summer, we had a wet late summer and fall.  Trees in the urban area of Lexington and in surrounding forests began showing bright colors in August.  Now, on November 12, there are [...]

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Logging underwater forests for timber in Ghana

12.06.2008

Ghana is beginning to log drowned forests from Lake Volta as a source of high-value tropical logs. Ebony, teak, mahogany and nearly 100 other species have been found on the lake bottom, where they have stood since the construction in 1964 of the Akosombo hydroelectric dam. The venture is expected to earn $100 million per [...]

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Old growth forests are good carbon sinks

09.26.2008

Old growth temperate forests are an important global carbon sink, soaking up CO2 at much higher rates than previously thought.The dogma for many decades has been that once forests become mature, they have such a large volume of non-green respiring (and CO2 releasing) tissue that they do not accumulate carbon.As a result, old growth forests [...]

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Carbon sequestering forestry in Kentucky

09.25.2008

A private company, GreenTrees, is creating long-term contracts with landowners in the Lower Mississippi River Alluvial Valley, including Western Kentucky, to plant forests of cottonwood and other hardwoods. The purpose of the project is to create value through a combination of biomass production for industry and carbon sequestration opportunities. Carbon sequestration will create income streams [...]

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Governors Conference

09.25.2008

I’m giving a keynote speech at the Kentucky Governor’s Conference on the Environment.  Notes in preparation for the talk, which will include some discussion of forests and soils for carbon sequestration are at Sustainable Kentucky.

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Spain to plant 45 million trees before 2012

09.15.2008

Spain wil plant 45 million trees from 2009-2012 to slow desertification and combat climate change. The project will cost $127 million and employ nearly 3,000 people. Nearly 1/3 of Spain is in prolonged severe drought and at risk of desertification due to climate change. Spain is also establishing a new research center to fight desertification [...]

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Carbon Storage in Upper Midwest Forests

09.15.2008

Research by Peter Curtis (Ohio State University) and colleagues shows that northern Michigan forests can store an average of 0.65 tons C per acre per year. This rate of storage is higher than earlier estimates such as those used to develop the Kyoto Protocol, and is consistent with other recent studies that show that temperate [...]

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