The real cost of logging the boreal forest may be buried in the soil

"From space, the boreal forest appears as a near-continuous pine-green band stretching across the Northern Hemisphere, just beneath the Arctic - from Europe through Russia and Asia, and again across Alaska and Canada. Up close, the forest resolves into a patchwork of species. Conifers like spruce, pine, and fir dominate, while deciduous trees such as birch, aspen, and poplar appear in warmer regions."

"The boreal covers roughly 17% of Earth's land surface and stores about one-third of the carbon held in forests worldwide. While some of this carbon is stored in the boreal's large trees, much of it lies below ground in soils, where cold, waterlogged conditions slow how quickly fungi and bacteria decompose organic matter, allowing it to accumulate over centuries."

"Today, industry and forest managers are converting large areas of this forest into managed stands, harvesting trees for lumber and wood-based bioenergy. Many climate models aiming for a carbon-neutral future not only predict but also rely on increased use of boreal forests as a substitute for fossil fuels. As a result, even in low-emissions scenarios, we will continue to transform intact forests into managed plantations."

"New research, however, shows that preservation, rather than management, may be a more effective strategy: Drawing on new field measurements across primary forests, combined with Swedish national data spanning thousands of plots, scientists from Lund University and Stanford found that intact boreal forests in Sweden store 72% more carbon than managed ones. Driven largely by differences in soil carbon, the gap far exceeds earlier estimates and suggests that these forests play a much larger role in sequestering carbon than scientists have realized."

The boreal forest forms a near-continuous pine-green band across the Northern Hemisphere beneath the Arctic. Locally, it appears as a patchwork of conifers such as spruce, pine, and fir, along with deciduous trees like birch, aspen, and poplar in warmer areas. The boreal covers about 17% of Earth’s land surface and holds roughly one-third of the carbon stored in forests worldwide. Much of this carbon is stored below ground in soils, where cold and waterlogged conditions slow decomposition by fungi and bacteria. Industry and forest management convert large areas into managed stands for lumber and bioenergy, and climate models often assume increased boreal use as a fossil-fuel substitute. New measurements and national plot data indicate that intact boreal forests in Sweden store 72% more carbon than managed forests, driven largely by soil carbon differences.

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