Carbon distribution in managed upland redwood stands using the California Climate Action Registry Forest Project Protocol

In response to global climate change and the resulting need to reduce greenhouse gases, forest carbon sequestration is being investigated as a way to reduce levels of the primary greenhouse gas: carbon dioxide. To determine sequestered carbon in forests, accurately measuring carbon is of increasing importance. Carbon distribution was assessed in a managed redwood (Sequoia sempervirens D. Don) Endl.) forest in Humboldt County, California using methods described in the newly established California Climate Action Registry's Forest Project Protocol. Stands studied were closed canopy second- and third-growth stands, dominated by redwood. The second-growth stands had 3.35 times more total carbon than the third-growth stands. By far the largest above-ground carbon pool in both stands was trees greater than or equal to 7.62 cm DBH (433,946 kg carbon ha-1 in second-growth and 69,613 kg carbon ha-1 in third-growth). Litter, downed woody debris, duff, snags greater than or equal to 7.62 cm DBH, and stumps represented 11 percent of the total above-ground carbon in the second-growth and 44 percent in the third (52,691 kg carbon ha-1 in the second-growth and 64,123 kg carbon ha-1 in the third). The recently released Forest Project Protocol was developed as a guide for the design, implementation, and registration of forest projects to allow entities to accurately report their greenhouse gas emissions and reductions. Using the field results, I evaluated the Forest Project Protocol and recommended that future iterations: (1) remove roots as a required carbon pool; (2) add litter and duff as required pools; (3) provide detailed forest project examples; (4) provide additional allometric tree biomass equations relevant to the diversity in California forests; and (5) keep minor pools optional (e.g. trees and snags less than 7.62 cm DBH).