Increased Logging on Bureau of Land Management Lands in Western Oregon Would Rival Carbon Dioxide Pollution from Cars and Power Plants
For Immediate Release: September 10, 2014
Contacts: Dominick A. DellaSala, Ph.D., 541-482-4459 x302; 541-621-7223 (cell); Olga Krankina, Ph.D., 541-737-1780
Ashland, Oregon – A new analysis from Dr. Olga Krankina, a member of the Nobel-prize winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), demonstrates how increases in logging levels on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands in western Oregon proposed by Oregon Senator Ron Wyden (S. 2734) would lead to greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to expanding the Boardman coal-fired power plant in Oregon by 50%, or adding another half million cars to Oregon’s roads, or burning over 6.3 million barrels of oil annually.
Senator Wyden’s legislation covers over 2 million acres of western Oregon’s federal forestlands (often called the “O&C” lands) administered by BLM. If S.2734 is enacted into law, logging would increase by 75-140% above current levels. The O&C lands are currently managed under the region’s Northwest Forest Plan (NWFP), which was adopted in 1994. An indirect effect of the NWFP’s logging reductions has been a gradual accumulation of atmospheric carbon by the region’s forests. At present, two-thirds of BLM forestland in the Pacific Northwest are protected, older “high-biomass forests,” a term used by scientists to describe forests that sequester (absorb) and store massive amounts of atmospheric carbon.
According to Krankina, a former member of the IPCC in 1998-2007 and Courtesy Faculty at Oregon State University, “In the foreseeable future CO2 emissions from proposed logging on BLM lands will not be made up for by planting young trees or storing carbon in wood products. Because proposed logging targets some of the most carbon-dense forests in the nation, the resulting greenhouse gas emissions may be even higher than estimated in this analysis.”
Krankina used a forest sector carbon accounting model known as LANDCARB, developed by Dr. Mark Harmon at Oregon State University, to estimate CO2 emissions for different forest management scenarios. Her analysis compared projected CO2 emissions under Wyden’s proposed legislation vs. those currently occurring under the more protective Northwest Forest Plan. If Senator Wyden’s legislation is enacted, an estimated 2.69 million tonnes of CO2 will be emitted to the atmosphere each year from increased logging on BLM O&C lands. The estimate includes all types of timber harvest and covers ~1.2 million acres of forestland where logging would occur.
Dr. Dominick DellaSala, Chief Scientist of Geos Institute and Courtesy Faculty at Oregon State University, also participated in the analysis, and stated, “Senator Wyden’s logging levels would put BLM O&C lands on par with the state’s biggest global warming polluter at a time when states like Oregon are looking for ways to cut back on global warming pollution.”
DellaSala added, “To make matters worse, increased logging emissions would cut into proactive efforts aimed at reducing global warming pollution via increasing auto fuel efficiency standards and transitioning energy use from coal to clean renewables like wind and solar.”
Wyden’s proposed logging-related emissions work against President Barack Obama’s recently released Climate Action Plan and efforts globally to cut back on emissions from burning of fossil fuels and deforestation. Globally, up to 17% of the world’s greenhouse gas pollution comes from deforestation and forest degradation, which is greater than the world’s entire transportation network, according to the IPCC.
Krankina concluded “Forest management decisions being made today will determine if forests will play a role in stabilizing the climate in the foreseeable future.”
Click here to read Dr. Krankina’s full analysis.
Click here for Dominick DellaSala’s Nov. 2014 “Conservation Gains and Losses of Senator Ron Wyden’s Proposed Oregon and California Land Grant Act Compared to the Northwest Forest Plan.”
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Robert Macnee, Ph.D. is Deputy Director of Resilience Services at Climate Resilience Consulting, where he helps governments, institutions, and communities reduce climate risk in equitable and practical ways. He holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Management focused on climate change impacts on health and communities, and brings over a decade of experience spanning economic development, resilience planning, and implementation.
Samantha Medlock is President of Climate Risk Advisors, helping communities and organizations advance equity, sustainability, and resilience. Her career began chasing floods as a local official in Texas Flash Flood Alley—a hands-on experience that still shapes her approach to climate and disaster risk management.
Jim is a multilingual world traveler. Based in Bavaria during the 1970s, Jim spent most of this period in India, Afghanistan and Nepal, where he founded and operated a charitable medical clinic serving Tibetan Refugees. He settled in Oregon in 1983 on a forested ranch in the Umpqua National Forest.
Dr. Micah Hahn is an Associate Professor of Environmental Health in the Institute for Circumpolar Health Studies at the University of Alaska-Anchorage. She received her joint PhD in Epidemiology / Environment and Resources from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her MPH in Global Environmental Health from Emory University. Subsequently, she was a postdoctoral fellow for the CDC Climate and Health Program, and in this position worked collaboratively with the CDC Division of Vector-borne Diseases and the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Her research focuses on understanding the health impacts of climate change and working with communities to develop locally-relevant adaptation and resilience-building strategies. Dr. Hahn is also on the Management Team of the Alaska Climate Adaptation Science Center.
Michael is a former Founding Principal of Resilient Cities Catalyst, a global non-profit helping cities and their partners tackle their toughest challenges. He is currently the Executive Director of Climate Resilience Academy at the University of Miami.
Dr. Quintus Jett is a consultant, educator, and strategist for public causes. He has a doctorate in Organizations & Management from Stanford University, and a two-decade faculty career which spans schools, departments, and programs of business, engineering, liberal studies, divinity, and public and nonprofit management. Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Dr. Jett launched a volunteer project in New Orleans, which enlisted residents, students from over a dozen colleges and universities, and hundreds of others to field map the city’s Gentilly district, Lower Ninth Ward, and New Orleans East. Dr. Jett is an innovator in higher education, bridging the divide between academic research and the other priorities of the modern university, including student access and diversity, community engagement, and providing foundations for life-long learning in today’s rapidly changing world.
Scott is Monfort Professor of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University. He has written about 100 publications in the peer-reviewed climate literature, is a former editor of the Journal of Climate, and served for five years as founding Science Chair of the North American Carbon Program.
Linda has many years of experience in disaster preparedness and resilience. She has been an elected official on the Linn County Iowa Board of Supervisors, Chair of the Metropolitan Planning Organization, the East Central Iowa Council of Governments, the statewide Mental Health Developmental Disability and the Linn County Board of Health. Langston is a former president of the National Association of Counties (2013-2014).
Ken works with families and organizations as a mediator, organizational consultant, trainer and facilitator. Along with his passion for helping people prepare for and reduce climate change, Ken also volunteers as a mediator through Mediation Works and is passionate about supporting youth through mentoring with Boys to Men of Southern Oregon.
Matthew is a retired high school teacher who was once honored as Oregon High School Social Studies Teacher of the Year. Before his teaching career he was in the restaurant business in Portland. He is also a lawyer who has been a member of the Oregon State Bar Association since 1980.
Andrea is the Resilience Policy Advisor for the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency. She works across state agencies and with local governments to increase the state’s resilience to the impacts of climate change.