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Future forest carbon accounting challenges: the question of regionalization

Informally Refereed

Abstract

Forest carbon accounting techniques are changing. This year, a new accounting system is making its debut with the production of forest carbon data for EPA’s National Greenhouse Gas Inventory. The Forest Service’s annualized inventory system is being more fully integrated into estimates of forest carbon at the national and state levels both for the present and the recent past. With the advent of this new accounting system, however, a need persists for information at smaller scales. For example, National Forest managers are being asked to incorporate carbon management into Forest planning. Local government agencies often request a need for estimates of carbon in their jurisdictions. Production of carbon estimates at small scales has always presented major challenges. The quality and coverage of U.S. forest inventories has varied over time and among different parts of the country. The full incorporation of FIA’s uniform annualized inventory into carbon accounting offers new opportunities to overcome these challenges.

Parent Publication

Citation

Nichols, Michael C. 2015. Future forest carbon accounting challenges: the question of regionalization. In: Stanton, Sharon M.; Christensen, Glenn A., comps. 2015. Pushing boundaries: new directions in inventory techniques and applications: Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) symposium 2015. 2015 December 8–10; Portland, Oregon. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-931. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. p. 111.
https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/treesearch/50241