Forests and Carbon

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The staff of SIG can help clients that are interested in monitoring forest conditions, participating in carbon exchange programs, and determining optimal management strategies. We have experience assisting clients with purchasing, auditing, verifying and certifying forest carbon offsets by providing expert services on the complex dynamics of forest ecosystems. We also evaluate different scenarios of forest management for goal optimization. This includes mapping and monitoring forests, estimating forest biomass using both remote sensing and field methods, and modeling the growth and disturbance regime of forests under different scenarios. In the process, the team at SIG can help clients determine which forest projects are likely to yield high-quality and legitimate carbon offsets.

Forest Carbon Science:

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Our forestry carbon science is focused on integrated carbon assessments and forest growth projections.  SIG forest carbon scientists are involved in a variety of studies, both as the principal investigator and technical consultant, mostly aimed at modeling quantifiable, enforceable, and verifiable carbon credits.  SIG has adopted an integrative research approach to conduct comprehensive scientific studies with a level of rigor and knowledge that allows for a more informed foundation on the role of forest carbon within complex ecological systems.  Our research offerings are organized around the following themes.
• Applied Research
• Basic Research
• Tool Development
• Integration Work

Carbon Project Support

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With the advent of carbon markets, private land managers and conservation organizations are becoming aware of the potential of their lands to attract investment through carbon storage and are beginning to consider adapting their management practices accordingly.
 
• Planning and Regulation Compliance – SIG’s staff has the skill sets and knowledge necessary to integrate carbon into forest management plans, regardless of whether its objective is timber production, wildlife conservation, or wilderness management.  Thus far, SIG has been providing services for Option A, Sustained Yield Plans (SYP), Non Industrial Timber Management Plans (NTMP) and Program Timberland Environmental Impact Reports (PTEIRs).
 
• Project Development – SIG also offers its clients an opportunity to design appropriate management scenarios for carbon sequestration.  By publishing its findings and remaining science-based, SIG has positioned itself at the forefront of carbon assessment, verification and monitoring. Our services for forest carbon project development include:
 i.   Landscape carbon estimation and mapping

ii.  Inventory processing: ground plot – remote sensing integration

iii. Protocol-specific reduction estimation (RELs) and feasibility analysis (including pre-project assessments) 

iv. Verification Support (primarily biometrician support services)

v.  Linkages between carbon projects and Forest Stewardship Certification (FSC) (including and  performing audits)

Forest Biometrics

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Information is needed to plan, manage and value working forests. SIG forest scientists provide biometrical expertise in inventory, growth simulation, and scheduling to estimate multiple resources including timber, biomass and carbon yields; wildlife habitat; disturbance risk; aesthetics and more. Statistical and spatial technical expertise, in combination with an extensive knowledge of forestry management practices and forest ecology, allow SIG to deliver comprehensive and practical solutions. In addition, we use growth models that incorporate downscaled global climate model (GCM) scenarios to better predict forest conditions in response to climate change.  Our forest biometrics expertise includes:
 
• Inventory
i.   Efficient design for large programs to small projects
ii.  Evaluations of existing inventory accuracy, efficiency and effects on growth simulation 
     accuracy
iii. Mensurational work on allometric functions, imputation, weight scaling, etc.
 
• Growth Modeling
i.   Long-term modeling of silviculture and stand development including mortality, regeneration
     and local calibration
ii.  Alternatives analysis of silvicultural treatments
iii. Custom model development including climate change impacts, disturbance or rare species
 
 Scheduling and Management Planning
i.   Harvest scheduling under optimization or stand-based
ii.  Constraints due to objectives, contracts, laws and regulations
iii. Yields of timber, habitat, carbon and biomass
iv.  Economic outputs of cost, revenues, cash flow and NPV
 
• Software and Statistical Support
i.   Custom development and testing of software modules or programs in R, Visual Basic, Fortran,
     C, SQL, MS Access and Python
ii.  Custom parametric and non-parametric regression and analysis including spatial statistical
     analysis

Resource Assessments

::: SIG’s experience at assessing the values of current and future forest resources allows for comprehensive comparisons among forest management options.

• Biomass Utilization: Biomass Fuels Availability and Fuels Procurement Assessments. SIG has delivered comprehensive life cycle assessments of woody biomass material sourced from forest management activities, forest products manufacturing, waste wood recovery, and agricultural operations.  Assessments have included long-term forest growth projections, fuel availability and pricing, fuel characterization, time of year availability, cost of harvesting, collection, processing and transport, transportation network analysis, and risk assessment addressing long-term availability.  Following delivery of a biomass fuels availability assessment, SIG generates a fuels procurement plan.  These plans provide data in support of a procurement strategy to secure fuels that meet certain specifications and project requirements.  Fuel characteristics, delivered costs, and temporal and spatial availability are key considerations.

• Fuels Treatments: SIG’s interdisciplinary staff is involved in a variety of scientific studies aimed at quantifying the greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions resulting from fuels management treatments.  By reducing hazardous fuels and improving forest health, forestlands’ long-term capacity to sequester carbon and reduce atmospheric GHGs can be enhanced.  Using a total accounting framework for entire landscapes, SIG is modeling the stock and flow of carbon and ecosystem services under a variety of fire hazards and management scenarios. For more information, refer to our “Natural Hazards” program details.

• Life Cycle Assessments of Forest Biomass, Forest Products, Transportation and GHG accounting: Using a total system analysis approach, SIG has compared biomass energy and forest products to other forms of energy production and building materials. Our science team can compare GHG benefits of biomass to the more prevalent electricity generation by natural gas or the total suite of generation encompassed by the California grid. SIG continues to develop LCA approaches and apply them to consulting and research projects throughout the western U.S., Canada, Europe and other strategic countries interested in performing these life cycle assessments.

Mitigation Support

::: Many project requirements include the development of plans to mitigate the effects on natural resources (through CEQA or NEPA).  Now with carbon and GHG accounting, mitigation planning for climate change can be integral to the success of a project.  Widely recognized for our expertise in these areas, SIG specializes in the analysis and integration of myriad planning, natural resource, and design components critical to successful carbon sequestration projects.  Our forest carbon staff is highly experienced in plan preparation and administration.  Our scientists have the experience and knowledge to provide the components necessary to meet a client’s specific needs and improve the likelihood that mitigation, afforestation, and restoration will succeed.  As a result, SIG provides their clients with accurate and credible carbon mitigation support services without generating unnecessary costs.

Investor Support

::: SIG has a proven track record of working directly with investors on a wide variety of revenue streams, including carbon, water, ecosystem services, wood products and biomass energy. SIG develops and provides financial modeling to evaluate proposed forest carbon projects, as well as existing and developing low-carbon technologies. SIG’s financial models enable identification of economic and environmental risk issues, and provide an assessment of the commercial viability in displacing existing carbon-intensive pathways with new products or services that demonstrate the GHG benefits of replacing these existing paths with low-carbon alternatives. SIG’s financial assessments and due diligence are designed to enhance the viability of business proposals, and assist forest carbon and technology developers in commercializing their sequestration opportunities and/or low carbon alternatives and pathways. Our forest carbon and low-carbon market assessment services include: 1) analyses of competition; 2) determination of carbon pricing needed for meeting investor goals (including hurdle rates); 3) evaluation of existing markets and windows of opportunity; and 4) forecasting of competition and/or alignment with alternative revenue streams (forest products, development pressures, etc.) so that investors can optimize returns on investment (ROI).

Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+)

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SIG shares the view of many similar research organizations in promoting the role of forests in climate change mitigation. One component or key goal to the future of our forests is to halve deforestation and degradation by 2020. While we agree that this is an ambitious goal, meeting it would avoid 6 million hectares of forest destruction and 3 billion tons of CO2 emissions annually – a significant contribution to the estimated 17 billion tons of reductions needed annually from all sectors by 2020 to limit global warming to 2° C.  Achieving this goal will require an integrated set of actions to fundamentally change the behavior of various actors who are driving forest destruction.  Using remote sensing, modeling, and field techniques, SIG monitors and assesses global opportunities for REDD+. SIG is interested in developing robust carbon accounting methodologies, thereby providing important lessons for how to tackle issues related to baselines and additionality, MRV systems, leakage and permanence at sub-national and national scales. Specific areas of interest are baseline emissions modeling, stand growth dynamics and disturbance risk to forested regions under current and projected climate conditions.

Protocol Development and Review

::: Since SIG has positioned itself at the forefront of carbon assessment, verification and monitoring, our forest carbon science staff is often called up to comment and refine existing protocols under one of the standards. Because our science team serves on committees for protocol development and refinement, we are well-versed in providing guidance on the differences among carbon standards/registries.  We are actively involved in developing new methodologies, and revising existing ones, to verify emissions reductions achieved from multiple strategies across jurisdictional scales for submission to Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS), American Carbon Registry (ACR), Climate Action Reserve (CAR) and Climate, Community and Biodiversity Standard (CCB) for approval. We are also able to make educated technical policy briefs on various GHG reduction programs and proposed legislation.

Latest News

Drought-induced positive feedback in xylophagous insects: Easier invasion of Scots pine leading to greater investment in immunity of emerging individuals
Publication year: 2012
Source: Forest Ecology and Management, Volume 270, 15 April 2012, Pages 147-152
Indrikis Krams, Janīna Daukšte, Inese Kivleniece, Guntis Brūmelis, Raimonds Cibuļskis, ...
We studied the infestation rate of Scots pinePinus sylvestrisby xylophagous insects in relation to distance from forest lakes in eastern Latvia, northern Europe. In summers of 2008 and 2009, we felled 72 pines of approximately 65 years age. Sections of the logs were incubated in insect emergence traps. The trees located near lakes were significantly less infested by xylophagous insects than those sampled at greater distances from the lakes. We also tested the ability ofTomicus piniperda, the most abundant species of xylophagous insects in our samples, to resist the entomopathogenic fungusBeauveria bassiana. The results show that beetles captured near lakes were more susceptible to the fungal infection than individuals sampled away from forest lakes, indicating that the beetles far from lakes afforded to invest more in immunity during the larval phase. During the warmest days in summer the mean maximum ambient temperature was 2.32 °C lower near lakes than away from lakes. Since increased temperatures not only trigger drought stress, but may potentially also cause temperature-sensitive mortality of conifers, a warmer microclimate may lower resistance of pine trees to attacks of xylophagous beetles. In weakened trees, insects can invade more easily resulting in increased investment in immunity in bark- and wood-boring insects. This is the first demonstration of drought-induced positive feedback in xylophagous insects infesting Scots pine. Since bark beetles are common pests of conifers, our results may be important in forest pest management.

Highlights

► Higher temperatures may result in drought stress of pines. ► Carbon starvation can lead to decreased resistance against forest pests. ► Maximum ambient temperature is lower near forest lakes than away from lakes. ► Immunity of bark beetles emerging from pines away from lakes is weak. ► Warmer microclimate lowers resistance of pines to bark beetle attacks.
The role of forest harvesting and subsequent vegetative regrowth in determining patterns of amphibian habitat use
Publication year: 2012
Source: Forest Ecology and Management, Volume 270, 15 April 2012, Pages 163-174
Viorel D. Popescu, David A. Patrick, Malcolm L. Hunter, Aram J.K. Calhoun
Conservation of forest-dependent amphibians is dependent on finding a balance between timber management and species’ habitat requirements. To examine the effect of short-term vegetative regrowth post-harvesting on amphibian habitat use, we studied the response of eight species (four forest specialists and four habitat generalists) to four forestry treatments (partial harvest, clearcut with coarse woody debris [CWD] removed, clearcut with CWD retained, and uncut control) over a 6-year period, using replicated experimental treatments in Maine, USA. Forest amphibians showed a strong negative response to clearcutting through the duration of the study, regardless of the presence of CWD, but only during the post-breeding season (i.e., summer). The spring breeding migrations of wood frogs and spotted salamanders to experimental pools were not affected by the forestry treatments. The use of partial cut treatments by forest amphibians differed between animals emerging from experimental pools (i.e., juvenile wood frogs and spotted salamanders), and animals originating from outside the experimental arrays (i.e., adults of all forest species, juvenile wood frogs and spotted salamanders). Animals emerging from our experimental pools showed no difference in the use of control and partial cut treatments, while all the other animals preferred control plots. In addition, we found a modest increase in the use of clearcuts over the 6 years following harvesting by juvenile wood frogs from experimental pools (from an 8-fold difference between forest and clearcut treatments in the first year post-clearcutting to a 3-fold difference during years 3–5). However, this increase was not significantly associated with vegetation regrowth. Forest specialists declined in abundance in all treatments beginning 2–3 years post-disturbance. Despite high yearly fluctuations in abundance, there was a shift in relative abundance towards habitat generalist species, most notably green frog juveniles. Most habitat generalist species were not affected by clearcutting or vegetative regrowth; however, we observed a lower use of clearcut treatments by green frogs starting 3 years post-harvesting, perhaps due to an increase in habitat resistance to movements associated with vegetative regrowth. These general patterns of habitat use were overridden at the local scale by site-specific variation in the use of forestry treatments, most evident in emigrating juvenile wood frogs. From a management standpoint, implementing broad silvicultural prescriptions could be a viable strategy in extensively forested landscapes, but local variation in habitat use has to be acknowledged when managers focus on a limited area.

Highlights

► We examine the effects of forestry on amphibian habitat use for 6 years post-logging. ► Forest species showed a negative response to canopy removal. ► Habitat use by generalist species was not affected by forest practices. ► Variability in habitat use was the norm at local scale, overriding general patterns. ► Six years of vegetative regrowth did not mitigate the effects of clearcutting.
Exploratory analysis for complex-life-cycle amphibians: Revealing complex forest-reproductive effort relationships using redundancy analysis
Publication year: 2012
Source: Forest Ecology and Management, Volume 270, 15 April 2012, Pages 175-182
Joanna Hawley Howard, Robert F. Baldwin, Bryan L. Brown
The relationships among complex life-cycle (CLC) amphibians and their habitats involve interaction of biotic and abiotic variables across multiple spatial and temporal scales. Most studies of species–environment relationships utilize classic distributions and regression methods which may oversimplify results, as they often involve initial reduction of data,a priorimodel specification, and parsimonious model selection. We re-analyzed a dataset collected in a study of environment-reproductive effort relationships for two amphibian species. This data was originally analyzed using negative binomial regression and AIC model selection; we applied a multivariate analysis, a variant of Redundancy Analysis (RDA), to the same dataset to examine if additional information was revealed. The multivariate analysis identified the same primary drivers as did model selection: in the context of relatively intact forests, hydroperiod was the most important factor contributing to reproductive effort. However, the RDA elucidated what may be new primary and secondary drivers related to forest structure and composition. Reproductive effort was strongly associated with tree species richness, canopy cover, and presence of individual tree species; the strength of these relationships varied between amphibian species and across spatial scales. Spotted salamanders (Ambystoma maculatum) were strongly influenced by microclimate conditions and wood frogs (Lithobates sylvaticus) by pool canopy cover and presence of wetland tree species.A priori, parsimonious model selection assists managers by delivering biologically defensible, simple explanations. However the process reduces hypothesis-generating potential and omits variables that may become important as environments change.

Highlights

► CLC amphibians require multiple habitats; drivers of their breeding effort are complex. ► These reproductive drivers may be poorly reflected in predictive models. ► Using a novel exploratory method, we found additional complexity related to breeding effort. ► We suggest considering secondary drivers revealed by multivariate techniques along with parsimonious models. ► This may be a valuable approach to identify wetland and forest variables to monitor as environmental conditions change.
In-situ measurement of twig dieback and regrowth in matureAcer saccharumtrees
Publication year: 2012
Source: Forest Ecology and Management, Volume 270, 15 April 2012, Pages 183-188
Shaik Md. Yousuf Hossain, John P. Caspersen
Crown shyness is thought to influence both the productivity and dynamics of forests, but few studies have examined the underlying causes of this common phenomenon. The few studies that exist suggest that crown shyness is caused by the reciprocal abrasion of neighboring tree crowns, resulting in the death of peripheral buds and/or the breakage of peripheral twigs (referred to here as twig dieback). However, twig dieback has not been directly observed due to the difficulty of accessing the crowns of mature canopy trees. In this study, we used a mobile canopy lift to obtain in-situ measurements of twig dieback in mature sugar maple (Acer saccharumMarsh.) trees. We measured: (1) percent dieback (% year) – the proportion of twigs that broke off or died; (2) dieback (cm year) – the length of the broken or dead portion; and (3) regrowth (cm year) – the length of the new twigs that sprouted from axillary buds. One third of the twigs suffered dieback over the course of 1 year, resulting in 1.41 cm of dieback, on average. Percent dieback was significantly higher in tree crowns located within 3 m of another crown, indicating that dieback is the result of the reciprocal abrasion of neighboring crowns. Percent dieback also increased with tree size, suggesting that tree sway increases as trees grow larger, resulting in more frequent and more intense abrasion. These trends were exacerbated by similar trends in regrowth, which was slower both in large trees and in trees located with 3 m of another crown. Our results suggest dieback may represent a substantial drain on both tree growth and stand productivity – a drain that increases as trees grow larger and stands mature.

Highlights

► One-third of twigs suffered dieback over the course of 1 year. ► Percent dieback increased significantly with stem diameter and slenderness. ► Regrowth decreased significantly with stem diameter. ► Percent dieback was significantly higher in crowns located within 3 m of one another. ► Regrowth was significantly slower in crowns located within 3 m of one another.
Determinants of tree mortality in mixed old-growthNothofagusforest
Publication year: 2012
Source: Forest Ecology and Management, Volume 270, 15 April 2012, Pages 189-199
Jennifer M. Hurst, Glenn H. Stewart, George L.W. Perry, Susan K. Wiser, David A. Norton
Rates and spatial patterns of tree mortality were examined using long-term data from old-growth, mixed-species forests of the Maruia Valley, South Island, New Zealand. The aim of the study was to investigate patterns of tree mortality in two common, co-occurring species,Nothofagus fusca(Hook. f.) Oerst. andNothofagusmenziesii(Hook. f.) Oerst. The dynamics of three old-growth stands were followed over a 23-year period, using plots sized 0.8–1.0 ha. In total the fates of 1138 individualN. fuscaand 1611N. menziesiiwere recorded, which had annual mortality rates of 0.016 and 0.0089 per year, respectively. Differing spatial and size-related patterns of mortality were found between species. For both species, individual-based logistic models showed that slower growing trees were more likely to die than faster growing trees.N. fuscatrees growing in previously disturbed stands were also more likely to die than those in undisturbed stands. Spatial point process analysis showed that deadN. fuscatrees were spatially aggregated, and were segregated from living trees, a pattern that was consistent across both small and large trees. DeadN. menziesiiwere spatially aggregated, but were not segregated from living trees. Aggregated mortality ofN. fuscatrees should favor regeneration of this light-demanding species in large canopy gaps, perpetuating its aggregated distribution, whereas the lower mortality of shade-tolerantN. menziesiiallows this species to persist. Our results demonstrate that performance differences in coexisting tree species can be manifested spatially. Between species, different mortality patterns may have implications for sustainable forest management.

Highlights

► We investigate patterns of tree mortality for two co-occurringNothofagusspecies. ► Between species, we found different spatial and size-related patterns of mortality. ► Slower growing trees were likely to die, as wereNothofagus fuscagrowing in previously disturbed stands. ► We demonstrate that performance differences between species can be manifested spatially.