Planting trees-A good thing?- A bad thing?

[wine]

Buffy I'd give you rep but I can't. Beautiful photograph. Reminds me of my childhood.

[Michaelangelica]

February 11
In Niger, Trees and Crops Help Turn Back the Desert

In this dust-choked region, long seen as an increasingly barren wasteland decaying into desert, millions of trees are flourishing, thanks in part to poor farmers whose simple methods cost little or nothing at all.

Better conservation and improved rainfall have

MARC: In Niger, Trees and Crops Help Turn Back the Desert

Here is the artcile in full

Michael Kamber for The New York Times

A market in Droum is bountiful, thanks to increased crop yields, largely because newly planted trees have helped retain the soil and water.

Better conservation and improved rainfall have led to at least 7.4 million newly tree-covered acres in Niger, researchers have found, achieved largely without relying on the large-scale planting of trees or other expensive methods often advocated by African politicians and aid groups for halting desertification, the process by which soil loses its fertility.

Recent studies of vegetation patterns, based on detailed satellite images and on-the-ground inventories of trees, have found that Niger, a place of persistent hunger and deprivation, has recently added millions of new trees and is now far greener than it was 30 years ago.

Mises Economics Blog: Human Action in Niger

[Ganoderma]

Have there been any studies for the amount of carbon absorbed by coniferous forests and deciduous forests? I assume that deciduous would be far superior as they shed their leaves making them take carbon out of the air each year and deposit it on the ground. There was a good article about this and the release of carbon with fires, but I can’t find it. There is probably lots though. I would also think that being a deciduous forest would be better in the bottom as well as they allow more plants to grow, unlike many pines and cedars which shed needles that deter other plants from growing. Would it be safe to assume these 2 reasons are why they say the tropical forests are the bulk of land co2 transformation and don’t seem to think too highly of the northern deciduous forests?

[Michaelangelica]

Originally Posted by Ganoderma

Have there been any studies for the amount of carbon absorbed by coniferous forests

Don't know
There is this

we'd only need 34% forestation in the United States to make us CO2 negative, and an additional 1.5% per year to keep up with our increased usage.

Nobel Recipient-Plant Trees, a lot of Trees

Some say that trees don't hold on to CO2 long enough or are not CO2 'positive'. Is this correct?

I have seen some silly well-meaning things like people planting trees under huge figs in parks; or vast trees under power lines.

Many farmers in Australia use a mass of mixed tree seed, short lived trees, nitrogen fixing trees and longer lived mixes of trees native to the area. These are planted in broad strips by disbursing the seed behind a tractor. You can plant a lot of trees quickly that way.

[Michaelangelica]

Real-World CO2-Induced Growth Enhancements of Oak and Pine Trees in Missouri, USA Reference
Voelker, S.L., Muzika, R.-M., Guyette, R.P. and Stambaugh, M.C. 2006. Historical CO2 growth enhancement declines with age in Quercus and Pinus. Ecological Monographs 76: 549-564.

What was done
Working with two species of oak (Quercus velutina Lam. and Quercus coccinea Muench.) and one of pine (Pinus echinata Mill.) in the Ozark Mountains of Missouri, USA, the authors cross-dated a large number of increment cores and aligned the ring-width data by pith date for accurate age-constant assessments of growth over the past 150 years, thereby circumventing "changes in growth trend associated with differences in physiological functioning during development, as well as the need for statistical detrending that removes an unknown degree of long-term environmental signal, the so-called segment length curse that applies to standard dendrochronological investigations." In addition, they similarly analyzed previously acquired data for P. echinata stretching back in time to nearly AD 1600.

What was learned
Voelker et al. report that since 1850 the stem growth of the three species has risen "coincidently with increases in atmospheric CO2," such that the overall trend in ring-width in recent years is "nearly two times that" experienced prior to 1850. In addition, they note that the "long-term increases in radial growth appear unrelated to historical disturbance levels for the region, to long-term changes in relevant climatic variables, or to productivity of sites sampled."

What it means
The four Department of Forestry researchers from the University of Missouri suggest that as the atmosphere's CO2 concentration continues to rise, aided by continued nitrogen deposition, it will likely "stimulate further increases in the rates of stand development and carbon storage," and that "some tree species historically selected against [our italics] in the uplands of this system (Acer rubrum L. or Acer saccharum Marsh.) could compete more effectively."

CO2 Science
(Good website if you are interested in CO2)

[Michaelangelica]

Inside Bay Area - Global-warming skeptics take aim at trees

Global-warming skeptics take aim at trees
Scientific research simplified into plea to cut down northern forests Forest study brings glee to global warming skeptics
By Ian Hoffman, STAFF WRITER
Article Last Updated: 04/10/2007 12:12:20 PM PDT

Global-warming skeptics are gleefully seizing on the latest study of trees and climate to try out a new motto for living in a warmer world: Cut trees, not SUVs!

In a report published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the Carnegie Institution at Stanford University conclude that tropical jungles dramatically cool the planet.

But in snowier locales, forests appear to have a warming effect, scientists said.

Many companies have started signing up for reforestation and afforestation projects in the US and Europe to offset their carbon footprint. Will this work?

Our recent modelling study suggests that these projects in the temperate and boreal zones are not going to help to slow down global warming. Location is the key to the success of these projects, and planting new trees in regions outside the tropics will actually warm the Earth.

Forests affect climate in three different ways: they take up CO2 from the atmosphere and cool the planet; they evaporate water to the atmosphere and increase cloudiness, which also cools the planet; and they are dark and absorb a lot of sunlight, warming the Earth.

The carbon offsetting programs that promote planting trees are taking only the first effect into account.

When the changes to the surface properties are also taken into account, it is clear only tropical rainforests are strongly beneficial to slow down global warming. In the tropics, in addition to absorbing carbon dioxide, trees promote clouds which help to cool the planet.

http://mail.google.com/mail/?view=pa...r=bb2yck0rm5co

No one seems to take into account the "Terra preta effect" of trees.
Temperate trees if turned into charcoal would sequester carbon.

Then too they might promote bacterial activity in soil producing co2.??

Lots of sums need to be done.

[Michaelangelica]

Some serious research is being done at the University of western Sydney on how much carbon Trees capture.

I didn't hear them mention soil zoology. Amazingly they may be ignoriing this variable.
Catalyst: C02 Tree Capture – how much carbon dioxide do trees really capture? - ABC TV Science
It will be interesting to follow their research over the years.

C02 Tree Capture – how much carbon dioxide do trees really capture?
Reporter: Mark Horstman
Producer: Paul Schneller
Researcher: Holly Trueman
Camera: Ian Warburton
Sound: Grant Roberts
Editor: Andrew Hope

Transcript
Related Info

19 April 2007
We like to assume that planting trees will help to keep carbon out of the atmosphere and reverse global warming.

Twelve climate time machines in a western Sydney paddock are putting that assumption to the test.

Inside them, eucalypt trees are breathing the atmosphere of the future.

The aim is to discover what happens to Australian trees as atmospheric carbon dioxide levels continue to increase and droughts become more severe.

Can we rely on the world’s forests to act as carbon ‘sinks’ and absorb our excess greenhouse emissions?

Mark Horstman reports on an Australian experiment that’s looking for answers.

And Buffy I am told by American friends that the eucalyptus were imported to make wagon wheels! Now who sold them that porky?

When I visited USA and hit California and SF I was so disappointed as the place looked so much like Australia. Twenty four hours folded in a torture seat for this! (Fortunately I mainly came to see Disneyland and chipmunks.) Beautiful (far healthier than here,- you left the bugs with us) gums were everywhere.

On imperialism I have an interesting video I will post for you in the thread.

[Michaelangelica]

scientific American says it depends on which lattitude you are for trees to help global warming /cooling
http://www.netscape.com/viewstory/20...rss&frame=true

[Michaelangelica]

what do you think? Is it just a big con.?

Attuned to planting trees

By Claire Gorman

Friday, 27/04/2007

Generation Y are supposed to be self-focused and self-serving. But if you happened to be at the Regen festival, held on a stunning 1,000-acre property south of Goulburn, you’d probably get a different picture.

About 600 people, mostly between the ages of 18-35, gathered to plant 12,100 trees during the three-day event. Participants drove from Sydney, the south coast and Canberra. There was even the odd Newcastle resident among the crowd.

The festival is unique because by day participants put red gum and yellow box seedlings in the ground and by night they dance. Organisers set up five stages with music genres including electronic, chill, dub, improvisation and live bands.

Mark Stettner, director of Regen, told 666 ABC Canberra environment reporter, Claire Gorman, the event was pulling bigger crowds each year because "…green consciousness within the mainstream is also rising."

He said the combination of good music and the green element was a real drawcard. While the festival did not encourage drug taking and drinking, organisers were prepared for any incidents with first aid officers on site, Mark said.

This festival, which costs about $70,000 annually, is in its third year. It is powered with a combination of solar energy and biodiesel. Property owner Martin Royds said farmers were increasingly seeing the value in being green.

"It was Government policy early on that you had to clear every tree. Now we realise that a tree can be beneficial. It can be involved in the daily water cycle. It can give shade and shelter to your stock and your pasture," he said.

Martin said he hoped the trees would help get rid of serrated tussock on his land.

And what was it like to have hoards of young people descending on his land? Martin said his experience was "very positive."

The only thing he found after last year’s festival was two cigarette butts.

For more information go to: REGEN - Welcome to REGEN, home of the finest outdoor Earth saving music festivals . Please note this website is not within the abc.net.au control and the ABC has no editorial control over its content.
One of the stages at the Regen festival

One of the stages at the Regen festival. (ABC)
Photo Gallery

Click image for larger version:
Festival participants enjoyed amazing fabric sculptures set up all over the site.
Viola and Liz set up in the kitchen, ready for the crowds to descend.
Martin, Mark Tim and Jen show that the festival is completely powered by solar and bio diesel.
Property owner Martin Royds with some of the 12,100 red gum and yellow box seedlings which are ready to be planted.
Canberra resident Kathleen Mahoney plants a tree.

Attuned to planting trees. 27 Apr 2007. Rural Online. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

[Michaelangelica]

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Science Image: tilling-soy-field
Image: USDA
NO TILL?: By avoiding tillage, seen here, farmers can both increase the quality of their soil and sequester greenhouse gases.
Saving the trees could slow climate change, new research shows. Each year, nearly 33 million acres of forestland around the world is cut down, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Tropical felling alone contributes 1.5 billion metric tons of carbon—some 20 percent of all man-made greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions—to the atmosphere annually. If such losses were cut in half, it could save 500 million metric tons of carbon annually and contribute 12 percent of the total reductions in GHG emissions required to avoid unpleasant global warming, researchers recently reported in Science.

Forest depletion ultimately contributes more GHG emissions than all the cars and trucks in use worldwide, says Werner Kurz, a forest ecologist with Natural Resources Canada, who was not involved with the study. "What we are doing in these tropical forests is really a massive problem."

Combating Climate Change: Farming Out Global Warming Solutions: Scientific American