| Summary: | This research uses the inventory of 3 actively managed forest estates located in the Coast, Southern Interior, and Northern Interior forest regions in British Columbia. The performance of two groups of forest management strategies (harvest reduction and increased growth rate strategies) is explored in order to determine the carbon storage potential. A sensitivity analysis is conducted for the strategy that reduces the harvest to a fixed target level to determine the cost to produce carbon credits. A new method is developed to reduce the cost to produce carbon credits through implementing fluctuating harvest schedules that allow the target harvest to fluctuate between a minimum accepted level and the baseline level.
The results confirmed that at forest estate level, harvest reduction strategies outperform by a significant margin the increased growth rate strategies. There were no differences in terms of carbon storage and age class distribution between the various harvest reduction strategies analyzed in this study (fixed target harvest level, increased minimum harvest ages, and 2 strategies to increase area in reserves). Thus, the strategy that reduces the harvest to a fixed target level is preferred because it provides more flexibility in addressing natural disturbances and market fluctuations. The cost to produce carbon credits ranged from $3.9 to $40.8 tCO₂e-¹ (at 0% discount rate), out of which, the opportunity cost of reducing harvest represented 58%-97%. It was demonstrated that the inclusion of the opportunity cost of reducing harvest dominated the cost to produce carbon credits which, contrary to previous findings, increased with increasing forest productivity expressed both, as site index (i.e., top height in m at age 50) and average value of harvested timber (in $ ha-¹). The new method that implements fluctuating harvest schedules reduced the cost to produce carbon credits by up to 17% (at 0% discount rate). === Forestry, Faculty of === Graduate
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