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March 7, 2025
9:00 a.m. PT / 10:00 a.m. MT / 11:00 CT / 12:00 p.m. ET

State and local governments are increasingly interested in the role forests and harvested wood products play in regional carbon sinks and storage as well as the interactions between GHG reduction goals and potential economic opportunities. We used empirically driven process-based forest carbon dynamics and harvested wood product models in a systems-based approach to project the carbon impacts of various forest management and wood utilization activities across seven US states. To quantify state-wide forest carbon dynamics, we integrated forest inventory data, harvest and management activity data, and remotely-sensed metrics of land-use change and natural forest disturbances within a participatory modeling approach. We accounted for net GHG emissions across (1) forest ecosystems (2) harvested wood products, (3) substitution benefits from wood product utilization, and (4) leakage associated with reduced in-state harvesting activities. Preliminary findings show that both strategic forest management and wood utilization can provide substantial GHG mitigation potential relative to a business-as-usual scenario and potential future climate conditions. Key forest management activities include maintaining and increasing forest extent, reducing wildfire risk and severity, fostering forest resiliency and natural regeneration, encouraging sustainable harvest practices, balancing timber supply and wood utilization with tree growth, and preparing for future climate impacts.