How to estimate carbon sequestration on small forest tracts

Abstract

International climate change agreements may allow carbon stored as a result of afforestation and reforestation to be used to offset CO2 emissions. Monitoring the carbon sequestered or released through forest management activities thus becomes important. Estimating forest carbon storage is feasible even for nonindustrial private forestland (NIPF) owners, and the necessary tools are available. We developed a methodology for estimating forest carbon storage at the management unit scale and tested the impacts of hypothetical management scenarios on carbon sequestration over time. We demonstrate the procedure on two military installations in the southeastern United States and discuss some practical considerations.