Comment Log Display

December 14, 2010 

The Honorable May Nichols, Chair
California Air Resources Board 

Dear Ms. Nichols and Members of the California Air Resources Board:


I am writing to urge you to eliminate forest clearcutting from the
Forest Carbon Offset Program. I live in Shasta County, and I see
clearcuts all around me and they have destroyed much of the appeal
of living in a rural area. Clearcutting has devastating impacts on
habitat for wildlife, on the ability of forests to cope with
climate change as temperatures increase in clearcut areas, and on
water quality, upon which much of the state relies. 

Most significant, though is the fact that clearcutting, followed by
the creation of plantation tree farms, releases more carbon to the
atmosphere than any other type of forest management. Carbon is
released from slash that is left on the ground and later burned,
from wood by-products, and from the soil. Soil contains large
amounts of carbon; in the process of logging, and using heavy
equipment to rip open the soil to plant the young plantation trees,
much of that carbon is released. 

The timber industry argues that tree plantations take up carbon
quickly and thus store more carbon than before. Research studies by
most forest scientists indicate that while an individual small tree
may take up carbon more quickly than an older one, for many decades
the amount stored by an older forest far outweighs the amount taken
up by a younger one. We don’t have decades to wait. Climate change
is occurring far faster than climate scientists predicted just a
few years ago. Clearcutting is deforestation, and climate
scientists and forestry scientists alike know that deforestation is
one of the major sources of carbon emissions. 

Whom should we trust? The timber industry, whose bottom line is
profit? Or should we trust forest scientists who work for
universities or nonprofit groups, whose concern is scientific
truth? We don’t believe the oil companies when they tell us that
global warming isn’t caused by human activity. Why should we trust
the claims of the timber industry whose economic interests are at
stake over independent scientists?

To preserve the rich resources of our forests, which provide
recreation, wildlife habit, clean water, and wood products, we need
to preserve our forests from deforestation. If we encourage
clearcutting through AB32, all the benefits of the forests will be
degraded more quickly than is already occurring. Please do not make
forest clearcutting count for carbon offsets. 

Sincerely,

Sue Lynn
Montgomery Creek, California