Estimating the carbon budget and maximizing future carbon uptake for a temperate forest region in the U.S.

We used a coupled forest ecosystem process and forest products life cycle inventory model for a regional temperate forest in the Midwestern U.S., and found the net system carbon balance for this 615,000 ha forest was positive (2.29？t？C？ha-1？yr-1). The industrial carbon budget was typically less than 10% of the biological system annually, and averaged averaged 0.082？t？C？ha-1？yr-1. Net C uptake over the next 100-years increased by 22% or 0.33？t？C？ha-1？yr-1 relative to the current harvest rate in the study region under the optized harvest regime.The forest’s biological ecosystem current and future carbon uptake capacity is largely determined by forest harvest practices that occurred over a century ago, but we show an optimized harvesting strategy would increase future carbon sequestration, or wood production, by 20-30%, reduce long transportation chain emissions, and maintain many desirable stand structural attributes that are correlated to biodiversity. Our results for this forest region suggest that increasing harvest over the next 100？years increases the strength of the carbon sink, and that carbon sequestration and wood production are not conflicting for this particular forest ecosystem. The optimal harvest strategy found here may not be the same for all forests, but the methodology is applicable anywhere sufficient forest inventory data exist.Whole system (biological？+？industrial ecosystem) carbon budgets are required to identify opportunities to increase carbon sequestration, decrease carbon emissions, and answer the all important “systems sustainability” question: “How do we determine when we are getting too much of a good thing?” [1] Harvest is currently the primary disturbance agent for Upper Great Lakes forests, an important determinant of net ecosystem carbon (C) dynamics [2], and produces wood fiber needed by forest products and energy. The biological carbon cycle of the Upper Great Lakes forests is positive (i.e. they store carbon in the wood and/or soil)