Carbon sequestration and storage implications of three forest management regimes in the Wabanaki-Acadian Forest: A review of the evidence

Abstract

Forests contain substantial carbon stores, including above and below ground, living and non-living biomass. Different management regimes produce different outcomes related to stored and sequestered carbon in forests. The geographic focus of this paper is the Wabanaki-Acadian Forest of the Maritime Provinces of Canada (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island). This manuscript reviews literature to evaluate the carbon impacts of (1) intensive forest management for fiber products, (2) unharvested (or conservation) forest, and (3) climate-focused, ecological forestry. Each of these forest management strategies and concomitant silviculture regimes sequester and store carbon at varying rates and across different carbon pools in the forest. The literature suggests that unharvested (conservation) forests store and sequester the most carbon, and traditional, intensive fiber management stores and sequesters the least. Ecological forestry may provide the best balance between carbon sequestration and storage and climate adaptability, while also allowing for the provision of some timber/fibre products. This paper also discusses the co-benefits offered by forests under each of the three management regimes. New research, in general and in the region, needs to examine further below-ground carbon dynamics in soil as most efforts to document carbon focuses on above ground carbon pools.