By Dr. Roger Williams, Chair, C-MASC Agroforestry Working Group
The Forest Carbon Working Group has received financial support from CFAES Rattan Lal Center for Carbon Management and Sequestration to fund a graduate student to study the extent and the potential for Ohio’s forests to sequester carbon. This includes understanding the variations in forest cover/conditions and the variations employed in forest management, and how this influences the carbon flux in Ohio’s forests. Once this is better understood, then the appropriate next steps can be formulated in working with landowners in Ohio to increase the carbon stocks in Ohio’s forests.
The final report produced from this study, which will last one year, will provide a road map for the next steps that the working group should take to improve the carbon sequestration and storage in Ohio’s forests, what incentives might be offered to landowners to improve carbon sequestration in their forests, and how carbon markets can play a role.