California’s ancient redwood trees store more carbon dioxide per acre than any other forest in the world, including tropical rain forests like the Amazon, according to new research published in the journal Forest Ecology and Management.
The findings are the result of a seven-year study by scientists at Humboldt University and the University of Washington. Redwoods store 2,600 metric tons of carbon per hectare (2.4 acres), more than double the absorption rate of the Pacific Northwest’s conifer trees or Australia’s eucalyptus forests, the study found. The main reason redwoods surpass all others in CO2 storage is their longevity, the scientists said. “The story of carbon is huge,” Robert Van Pelt, a scientist at Humboldt State University and co-author of the research, told The Mercury News. “The carbon part of a redwood may be more important than the lumber part in the coming decades.”
California redwood trees.