the study examined thousands of forest plots with detailed data and observation, considering 27 parameters, including the role of forest fire, emissions savings from bioenergy use, wood product substitution, insect infestations, forest thinning, energy and processes needed to produce biofuels, and many other. it looked at four basic scenarios: "business as usual" ; forest management primarily for fire prevention purposes; additional levels of harvest to prevent fire but also make such opearations more economically fesible; and significant bioenergy production while contributing to fire reducation.
compared to "business as usual" or current forest management appoaches, all of the other approaches increased carbon emissions, the study found. under the most optimal levelsof efficiency, management just for fire prevention increased it 12 percent; for better economic return, 6 percent; and for higher bioenergy production, 14 percent. about 98 percent of the forests in this region are now estimated to be a carbon sink, meaning that even with exsting management approaches they sequester more carbon than they release to they release to theatmosphere
plans for greenhouse gas reduction call for up up 10 percent lower emissions by 2020, and forest-derived fuels are now seen as a carbon-neutral solution to reducing energy emissions, the researchers note. however, this study suggests that increases in harvest volume on the West Coast, for any reason, will instead result in average increases in emissions above current leverls.
"energy policy implemented without full carbon accounting and an understanding of the underlying processes risks increasing rather than decreasing emissions" the researchers wrote in their report