How does management affect the amount of carbon a woodland sequesters?
The Woodland Carbon Code currently deals with carbon stored within a woodland, in the living biomass, dead trees, litter and debris on the forest floor and in the soil on which the woodland stands (balanced by the emissions required to establish and manage that woodland). It does not account for carbon stored in any timber which is removed from the site. The amount of carbon that can be sequestered and retained on a particular site will vary depending upon the management of the site: • Woodland planted and all trees retained: If a woodland is created and no timber removed, then the carbon sequestered on that site increases quickly for a number of years, and once the woodland becomes mature (50-100’s of years depending on species) the carbon retained on the site remains roughly static, with increases from sequestration balanced by decreases from emissions – from decaying dead trees, litter and from the soil. This long-term average (over 100’s of years) amount of carbon is the maximum am
