California Wildfires Release More Greenhouse Gases than Previously Thought

Wildfires may be more of a problem than first anticipated. Scientists have found that California's wildfires and deforestation are contributed more than expected to the state's greenhouse gas emissions.

"Determining the balance between carbon storage and emissions is essential for tracking the role of ecosystems in climate change," said Patrick Gonzalez, the lead author, in a news release. "Growing vegetation naturally removes carbon from the atmosphere, reducing the magnitude of climate change. Conversely, burned or dead vegetation releases carbon into the atmosphere, exacerbating climate change."

In order to learn just how much carbon was being stored and release in California's wilderness, the researchers used 2001 to 2010 data from multiple public sources. The analysis of these data confirmed that California's forests are huge reservoirs of carbon for the state. In fact, previous research has shown that the redwood forests near Redwood National Park contain the most carbon per hectare on the ground of any ecosystem in the world. In fact, one hectare of redwood forest can store an amount of carbon that's equivalent to the annual greenhouse gas emissions generated by more than 500 Americans.

The scientists found that altogether, forests and vegetation of state wildlands stored an estimated 850 million tons of carbon in 2010. However, these areas also accounted for about 69 million tons of carbon emitted between 2001 and 2010. About two-thirds of this carbon loss came from fires that burned just 6 percent of the area of wildlands in nine years.

"National parks and other protected areas clearly provide and important function in removing carbon from the atmosphere and storing it," said John Battles, one of the researchers. "But we also know from previous research that a century of fire suppression has contributed to a potential unsustainable buildup of vegetation. This buildup provides abundant fuel for fires that contribute to carbon emissions. Projections of more wildfires in the West mean that we need to account for this source of carbon emissions. Meeting the state greenhouse gas targets for 2020 might require a reconsideration of wildland management policies."

The findings are published in the journal Forest Ecology and Management.

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