Baseline Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Removals for Forest And Agricultural Lands in Oregon

摘要

The project described in Baseline Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Removals for Forest and Agricultural Lands in Oregon sought to quantify the baseline of changes in carbon stocks on forest and agricultural lands in Oregon for the 1990s. These baselines provide an estimate of the emissions and removals of greenhouse gases attributable to changes in the use and management of land and are useful for identifying where major opportunities could exist in Oregon for enhancing carbon stocks and/or reducing carbon sources to potentially reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The analysis revealed that forests were responsible for a net removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere of 27 million metric tons of carbon dioxide per year between 1987 and 2003, and that agricultural lands were responsible for a net emission of 0.06 million metric tons of carbon dioxide per year. On non-federal lands, emissions from forests caused by development were estimated at 1.4--1.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide per year, and between 1990 and 1996 (excluding 1994) 0.81 million acres of forest and rangeland were burned by fires, with an estimated emission of 1.03 million metric tons of carbon dioxide per year. Nitrous oxide and methane emissions (in carbon dioxide equivalents) from agricultural lands are more than 100 times higher than carbon emissions attributable to land use change.