by RA Rowntree, DJ Nowak

Journal of Arboriculture. 17(10): 269-275

1991

This early paper was one of the first to seek to estimate the total carbon storage and annual sequestration of urban forests in the United States. It also presents a methodology that can be used to determine the carbon storage and annual sequestration for any city and offers a way to estimate the number of trees needed to offset the emissions of organizations and individuals. Total U.S. storage was estimated based on canopy cover and general broadleaf and conifer equations that relate crown diameter to stored carbon. Annual sequestration was estimated based on average growth rates and mortality. Individual city calculations require knowledge of the number of acres in question and the total tree canopy cover. The approximate distribution of trees among size classes will improve the estimate. In this early approximation, the total carbon storage of urban trees in the U.S. was estimated at 800 million tons C.

Region: United States
Publication Type: Journal article
Keywords: allometric equations, carbon sequestration, greenhouse gases, tree canopy cover, and urban forestry