Primary tabs

University of Idaho

Since 1889, the University of Idaho has provided motivated students with a transformative higher education experience that prepares them to solve real-world problems and achieve success in their lives and careers.

Learn more at https://www.uidaho.edu

Other Access

The information on this page (the dataset metadata) is also available in these formats.

JSON RDF

via the DKAN API

Data from: Forest carbon emission sources are not equal: putting fire, harvest, and fossil fuel emissions in context

Abstract
Climate change has intensified the scale of global wildfire impacts in recent decades. To help policymakers and managers avoid these unintended carbon consequences and to present carbon emission sources in the same context, we calculate western US forest fire carbon emissions and compare them with harvest and fossil fuel emissions over the same timeframe. We find that forest fire carbon emissions are on average only 6% of anthropogenic fossil fuel emissions (FFE) over the past decade. While wildfire occurrence and area burned have increased over the last three decades, per area fire emissions for extreme fire events are relatively constant. In contrast, harvest of mature trees releases a higher density of carbon emissions (e.g., per unit area) relative to wildfire (150-800%) because harvest causes a higher rate of tree mortality than wildfire. Shown in context, our results demonstrate that reducing FFEs will do more for climate mitigation potential (and subsequent reduction of fire) than increasing extractive harvest to prevent fire emissions.

Data Use
License: CC-BY 4.0 | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Recommended Citation: Bartowitz, K., Walsh, E., Stenzel, J., Kolden, C., & Hudiburg, T. (2022). Data from: Forest carbon emission sources are not equal: putting fire, harvest, and fossil fuel emissions in context [Data set]. University of Idaho. https://doi.org/10.7923/VVZE-7642

FieldValue
Modified
2022-04-13
Release Date
2022-04-13
Publisher
Identifier
2e99da0f-91a5-46fc-b6f7-605498b6dad4
Spatial / Geographical Coverage Location
western United States
Language
English (United States)
License
Author
Kristina Bartowitz, Eric Walsh, Jeffrey Stenzel, Crystal Kolden and Tara Hudiburg
Contact Name
Kristina Bartowitz
Contact Email
Public Access Level
Public
DOI
10.7923/VVZE-7642
Data available on:: 
Wednesday, April 13, 2022