California forest management emissions profile

In addition to sawlogs, forest management activities in California result in a stream of logging residuals and slash that are either left in the stand to decompose or piled and burned as directed by forest practice rules (California Forest Practice Rules, Article 7 § 917.2). Combustion or decomposition of this residual material results in emissions of greenhouse gasses as/or criteria air pollutants.

The objective of this analysis is, broadly stated:

To establish an emissions baseline for forest products including unutilized forest management residuals.

This is an ambitious goal given the sparse data available and ultimately I provide estimates where I can and leave placeholders where additional empirical data are needed.

It is critical to note that the empirical data used in this analysis reflect point-in-time measures that are affected by a dynamic system of climate, growth, and mortality in forests as well as macroeconomic and policy forces. To effective manage forests for climate (and/or other) benefits, a process modeling approach is necessary. This analysis may provide insight into opportunities to more effectively utilize woody biomass residuals from current forest management activities based on available historical data.

Several key tasks are necessary to address the objective stated above:

1. Estimate CO2 equivalent emissions from burning forest management residuals using criteria pollutant and GHG emissions inventory published by the California Air Resources Board
2. Estimate the volume and fate of wood removed from, left in the forest, and burned as a result of direct anthropogenic management activities.
3. Establish life-cycle displacement or emissions factors for all utilized wood/