David HoAug 5, 2023

Is everyone on the same page that old-growth forests sequester much more carbon than younger forests?

So it makes more sense to focus on not cutting down trees rather than planting new trees since it takes two to three decades for trees to reach full maturity, if they survive.

Show threadGabriel PettierAug 5, 2023
@davidho cutting down a whole forest is well understood to be a bad idea i think (or at least, hope), but cutting a tree that has reached adult size (or slowed down growth) and replacing it with a younger one makes sense, right?
Show threadDavid Wicks 🇵🇸
@tshirtman @davidho Mature trees sequester way more carbon than young ones. They may not look like it to the casual observer but if you think about how much bigger a mature tree is, an extra layer of growth around its entirety is more than a young tree can manage. Also they have significantly more leaves, when these fall much of the carbon is sequestered in the forest soils.
Aug 5, 2023 at 12:03pmWeb