This report’s goal is to quantify the baseline of changes in carbon stocks on forest and range lands in California for the decade of the 1990s. The focus here is on carbon but first approximation estimates are also given for non-CO2 greenhouse gases (GHGs) where appropriate. Baselines provide an estimate of the emissions and removals of greenhouse gases due to changes in the use and management of land. In addition they are useful for identifying where, within the landscape of California, major opportunities could exist for enhancing carbon stocks and/or reducing carbon sources to potentially mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. The 2002 California Energy Commission report1 estimated the emissions and removals of GHGs from all economic sectors of the State for the period 1990–1999, generally at one-year intervals. However, the sections of the Energy Commission’s 2002 report on the forest and rangeland sectors were incomplete and did not include all the changes taking place on these lands. In 2004 Winrock published a report on baseline emissions from forests, rangelands and agriculture from the same time period (Brown et al. 2004), however, in this earlier report data for only three out of the five regions were available for assessment. In this report all five regions are included and enhancements have been made in how the carbon sequestration of forest and rangeland areas with no measureable changes in canopy cover is accounted.

Hybrid poplar (Populus spp.), a short rotation woody crop, is of growing interest in the West Coast States of California, Oregon and Washington. This increased interest has been driven in recent years by hybrid poplar’s potential as a bioenergy crop or multiple wood products crop in combination with the potential revenue from carbon credits. This report aims to identify eligible lands within the West Coast States for the planting of hybrid poplar crops using a geographic information System (GIS) framework. . The eligible lands will be evaluated for their suitability based on a spatial analysis of environmental variables (datasets) that best predict the growth and productivity of hybrid poplar. The resulting suitability map is then analyzed against current research on the growth and productivity of hybrid poplar under different site conditions, which can then be related to carbon sequestration. The results showed that California has the most eligible land with around 14 million acres, but the majority of these acres would need irrigation. Washington State has the second largest amount of eligible land with 8 million acres, with around 27% of it suitable for planting with limited to no irrigation. Oregon has 5 million acres with nearly one third suitable for limited to no irrigation hybrid poplar plantations. Of these eligible lands the most suitable could produce an average of 3-4 t C/ac.yr, moderate suitability of 2-3 t C/ac.yr, and lands with poor suitability would average 1-2 t C/ac.yr. Revenue from a dedicated bioenergy plantation on a 6 year rotation is estimated to be $737-$976/acre with $86-$325/acre of that being earned from carbon credits. Revenue from a wood products plantation on a 20 year rotation is estimated to be $9,396-$10,989/acre with $425-$1,592/acre of that being earned from carbon credits. This study identifies counties or localities that may have considerable opportunities for hybrid poplar plantations, and can aid project developers in assessing those opportunities.

The conversion of forest lands to non-forest uses, especially conversion to residential development, is of significant concern to the Washington State Legislature and Washington Department of Natural Resources. As a result of a rapidly growing population, the risk of conversion is especially high in Puget Sound’s watersheds. The objective of this study was to develop a regional characterization study for Washington State that defines residential development as it is implemented in the Puget Sound region to estimate the emissions associated with conversion of forested land for residential development.