Charles Canham, PhD

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.