The United States should immediately move to create a collection of strategic forest reserves in the Western U.S. to fight climate change and safeguard biodiversity, according to a scientific collaboration led by an Oregon State University ecologist.
The United States should immediately move to create a collection of strategic forest reserves in the Western U.S. to fight climate change and safeguard biodiversity, according to a scientific collaboration led by an Oregon State University ecologist.
Bev Law, her College of Forestry colleague William Ripple and other scientists from around the West argue that climate change and biodiversity are inextricably linked and that strategic forest reserves would tackle both “emergencies” while also promoting the protection of water resources.
The scientists make their case, and lay out a framework for developing the reserves, in a paper published today in Communications Earth & Environment.
Describing the U.S.’s natural wooded systems as “America’s Amazon” and forest protection as “the lowest-cost climate mitigation option,” the researchers emphasize older forests’ ability to accumulate massive amounts of carbon in trees, vegetation and soils, to provide homes for wildlife and to serve as sources of water for drinking and other uses.
“Policy makers, including those in the Biden administration, frequently talk about the need to protect forests in developing countries,” Law said. “Forests in the Pacific Northwest have enormous carbon storage potential but U.S. public lands are often overlooked. Little attention has been given to the nexus of high carbon density and high biodiversity forests in the temperate region, and their importance to climate mitigation and adaptation.”
Read more at: Oregon State University
Clear Lake (Photo Credit: Steve Lundeberg).
