Forests provide a critical natural solution to reduce the effects of climate change. There is a growing debate about the most appropriate strategy to maximize this benefit. Ultimately, we need landscapes with both active and passive approaches to maintain the many benefits forests provide, including carbon sequestration and storage. The intent of this presentation is to help provide a better understanding of the role carbon plays within forests, the impacts of two land-use options on forest carbon – forest conversion and forest management, and the trade-offs of these decisions. The presentation will also provide specific carbon-informed forest management strategies to help maintain carbon storage if an active approach is taken.

Catanzaro Bio:

Paul Catanzaro is an Associate Professor and the State Extension Forester at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Paul teaches courses in the Forest Ecology and Conservation concentration and is co-Director of the Family Forest Research Center, a partnership of the USDA Forest Service and UMass Amherst. Paul’s research and outreach work focuses primarily on legacy planning and forest resiliency.

Here is a link to a pdf of the Forest Carbon publication: www.masswoods.org/carbon

Hitchcock Center for the Environment

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