Note that the data published in the 2002 State of the Nation’s Ecosystems Report as well as the 2003 and 2005 Web-Only Updates have been superseded by the 2008 Report and thus should be used with caution. For the most recent data, purchase the 2008 Report from Island Press.

View Data for Carbon Stored in Trees

What Is This Indicator, and Why Is It Important? This indicator reports how much carbon—an essential component of all organisms—is stored in forests, including trees, soil, and plant litter on the forest floor, and in wood products.

Carbon storage has become important in international negotiations on the management of greenhouse gas emissions, because increased carbon storage can be useful in offsetting emissions of carbon from fossil fuel burning and other sources. The amount of carbon stored in forests can change through the adoption of forest management practices that allow the incorporation of more plant materials into forest soils, changes in age structure (see Forest Age), and increases in the extent of forested areas (see Forest Area and Ownership).

What Do the Data Show? The amount of carbon stored in trees in the East increased by over 90% from 1953 to 1997, despite relatively modest changes in forest area. This increase has been attributed to growth on farmlands allowed to revert to forests, maturing of second-growth forests, and to increased growth in some southeastern forests. In western forests, the addition of new carbon through forest growth was offset by harvest, resulting in little change in the overall amount stored. Note that, unlike many other forest indicators, these data do not reflect changes that occurred after 1997.

Why Can't This Entire Indicator Be Reported at This Time? More data are needed to report on the amount of carbon stored in forest soils, in leaf litter and other decomposing matter on the ground in forests, and in forest products in use or slowly decomposing in landfills.

In addition, available data are limited to timberlands, but data collection will be more comprehensive in future.