1. Carbon Balance of Forest Thinning and Bioenergy Production
National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science
Carbon Balance of Forest Thinning and Bioenergy Production by
Katharine C. Kelsey Environmental Studies Program University of Colorado, Boulder, CO

2. Why are we interested in managing carbon?

3. Ways to manage carbon…

4. Carbon uptake
(photosynthesis)
Carbon emissions
(fire, decomposition)
Carbon storage

5. US Forest Service Climate Change Strategy

7. What is a ‘forest treatment’?
Mechanical thinning:
Prescribed fire:

8. What are the effects on forest carbon if we treat this forest?
Which of these forests holds more carbon?
How will each forest respond to wildfire?

12. uptake
emission

13. Image Credits
Except as otherwise noted below, all photos and figures were made by the case author, K. Kelsey.
Slide 3:
Image showing traffic: O. Gago;
Image showing smoke stacks:
Image showing forest:
Slide 5:
Climate Change Performance Scorecard. Adapted from
Slide 7:
Image showing fire behavior:
Photo showing mechanical thinning: W. Anderson;
Photo showing prescribed fire: US Fish and Wildlife Service;