A great state of carbon caches

When it comes to storing carbon, no national forest in the United States does more than the Eugene-based Willamette, according to a survey released by an environmental group. In an analysis of data collected by the U.S. Forest Service, The Wilderness Society found that among the federally owned national forests, the top 10 for carbon storage are all in the Pacific Northwest, six of them in Oregon. The Pacific Northwest climate offers plentiful rain and moderate temperatures that encourage tree growth, and the Willamette National Forest, at nearly 1.7 million acres, is a colossal forest. Only two of the other forests on the list are bigger. A study published last summer in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences concluded that Oregon’s forests are among the best in the world at storing carbon, second only to forests in Australia...read more