How Tree Diversity Can Help Fight Climate Change

While we continue to plunge headlong into creating a monoculture treefarm on the Olympic Peninsula, aided and abetted by DNR, this is a good reminder that the science does not necessarily support this direction.

Ensuring the preservation of forest diversity guarantees their productivity and holds the potential to enhance the accumulation of carbon and nitrogen in the soil. This, in turn, helps maintain soil fertility and combat global climate change.

That’s the main takeaway from a new study that analyzed data from hundreds of plots in Canada’s National Forest Inventory to investigate the relationship between tree diversity and changes in soil carbon and nitrogen in natural forests.

https://scitechdaily.com/how-tree-diversity-can-help-fight-climate-change/

NWI: Purchase protects Discovery Creek headwaters – PDN and others

A little behind on this news. Congratulations to Northwest Watershed Institute and everyone else who helped pull this off!

Ninety-one acres of forest and streams at the headwaters of Discovery Creek, a major tributary to Dabob Bay in East Jefferson County, have been acquired by Northwest Watershed Institute from Rayonier. The project completes preservation of nearly the entirety of Discovery Creek, which is the second largest freshwater source to Tarboo-Dabob Bay.

PDN & NWI

Microsoft Word – Discovery Ck acquisition May 27 2022.docx (nwwatershed.org)

Postscripts 2021: Jerry Franklin is still standing up and speaking out for our old-growth forests – Seattle Times

The venerable professor from the U.W.is still hard at work promoting the science of old growth and second growth forests. Don’t know who he is? Follow the link below to the summary article and then follow the links in the article to read his writings.

Franklin was among the first to discover the unique ecological value of old-growth trees and forest ecosystems. He also was among a team of scientists whose work led to the protection of old growth on federal land in Washington, Oregon and Northern California through the implementation of the Northwest Forest Plan in 1994.

https://www.seattletimes.com/pacific-nw-magazine/postscripts-2021-jerry-franklin-is-still-standing-up-and-speaking-out-for-our-old-growth-forests/

Harnessing nature’s regenerative powers: more evidence that tree planting is not (always) the best solution

This interesting new research has just been published in Science Magazine, and the original research was done by over 80 scientists. The following is comment by Professor Jeff Ollerton who is one of the world’s leading experts on pollinators and pollination. Professor Ollerton is the author of more than 130 articles and book chapters. Could it also have some value here in the non-tropical rain forests of the Pacific NW?

An interesting study published this week in the journal Science has provided more evidence that natural regrowth of forests is faster and more efficient than tree planting for restoring habitats.

Harnessing nature’s regenerative powers: more evidence that tree planting is not (always) the best solution
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