Charles Canham, PhD
Talk title: Currents Shaping the Status and Near-Term Future of the Central Appalachian Forest Carbon Sink
Forest Ecologist
Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies
Eastern US forests provide the vast majority of the nation’s current forest carbon sink. The strength and future of that sink are largely shaped by successional dynamics triggered by the past century of land use changes under the regional forest harvest regime. Forest carbon stocks and rates of sequestration in the Central Appalachians, as in virtually all eastern forests, can be expected to continue to increase over the next 50+ years. Changes in silviculture and/or carbon markets are unlikely to change those trajectories dramatically in the near-term.