Street roots., November 20, 2015, Page 4, Image 4

Report recommends
reining in timber
industry greenhouse gas
emissions - the second
largest source in
Oregon
EMILY GREEN
"The irony of that is, if well
managed, Oregon's forests
carbon per acre than any other
forests in the country. And yet
the opposite's occurring. We
are releasing more carbon per
square acre than any other acre
of forest in the country."
— JOHN TALBERTH
CENTER FOR SUSTAINABILITY
STAFF WRITER
reenhouse gas emissions from timber
industry practices in western Oregon
are at least four times greater than
emissions from Oregon’s last remaining coal
plant in Boardman, and equivalent to
Greenhouse gas emissions from forestry in western Oregon state and private forests with
between 2 and 4 million new cars on the
emissions from five other sectors last estimated by the Oregon Department of Environmental
road, according to a report released Tuesday
by the Center for Sustainable Economy,
Equality in 2012. Source: Clearcutting our Carbon Accounts
Geos Institute and Oregon Wild.
“Emissions from industrial forestry - and
no one’s disputing this - rank near the top
states “getting a grip on the substantial
“The timber industry is taking credit for
of Oregon’s greenhouse gas emissions,” said
emissions from industrial forestlands should
carbon absorbed on non-timber industry
lead report author and president at. the
be part of the solution.”
lands,” said Taiberth.
Center for Sustainability, John Taiberth. He
In response, Duncan told Street Roots,
Carbon dioxide absorbed by forests
said using standard measurements, forestry
conserved by nonprofits, landowners and the “The letter writers are absolutely right in
ranks second as the largest source of
asserting this.”
government count against timber industry
greenhouse gas in Oregon, averaging
But, he said, his commission is
emissions, which the industry claims brings
between about 9.8 and 19.4 million metric
“somewhat hamstringed” because while the
its net emissions to zero, states the report.
tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year
legislature gave it many responsibilities, it
In a letter to Oregon Global Warming
since 2000.
gave it little authority, “and no budget
Commission Chair Angus Duncan, the
The report, “Clearcutting our Carbon
whatsoever.”
report’s authors asked that his agency start
Accounts,” argues forestry-industry carbon
He said the commission doesn’t have the
monitoring the forest industry in its reports
emissions should be counted and monitored
resources and capability to do the kind of
to
the
state
legislature
and
promote
policies
and the industry should also be required to
analysis the letter is asking for. He said he
that will rein in the industry’s carbon
make changes consistent with state climate
plans to meet with other state agencies to
emissions.
His
commission
is
tasked
with
goals. It suggests Oregon policy makers find
making
policy
recommendations
to
the
formulate a response to questions the letter
alternatives to clearcutting, lengthen harvest
legislature for meeting state carbon
raised, but it’s unlikely that the response
rotations and incentivize carbon storage in
emission
targets.
will
be satisfactory given his commission’s
the tax code.
Oregon’s current trajectory will not meet
limited capabilities.
The report blames an “accounting trick”
the 2020 goal of getting carbon emissions to
The largest source of forest industry
used by the forest industry nationwide to
10 percent below 1990 levels. The letter
carbon emissions comes from decaying
exempt itself from scrutiny for its emissions.
H
branches and stumps left at logging sites,
decaying short-use wood products like paper,
and the decaying portions of trees milled off
when creating lumber, said Taiberth.
Trees store a lot of carbon, so when they
decay - that carbon is released back into the
atmosphere.
“The irony of that is, if well managed,
Oregon’s forests can sequester and store
more carbon per acre than any other forests
in the country,” said Taiberth. “And yet the
opposite’s occurring. We are releasing more
carbon per square acre than any other acre
of forest in the country.”
Duncan said when creating the state’s
climate Roadmap to 2020 five years ago, a
forest management committee .concurred.
This group, which included both timber
companies and academics, “came to the
general proposition that west side forests
should be simply left alone,” he said, and
that forest products should largely come
from privately owned forests, not state and
federal lands as is common practice.
In addition to decay and the loss of carbon
sinks, fertilizers used for replanting also
contribute to climate change. Emissions
from the same fertilizers are tracked and
monitored when used in agriculture, said
Taiberth.
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