2022-23 Forests and Climate Learning Exchange Series: Innovative Approaches to Forest Carbon Monitoring and Measurement

October 14, 2022

In this webinar, speakers Colin Beier from SUNY ESF and Mark Bradford from Yale presents "Innovative Approaches to Forest Carbon Monitoring and Measurement."

Title

Innovative Approaches to Forest Carbon Monitoring and Measurement

Speakers

Colin Beier, Associate Professor, Sustainable Resources Management, SUNY ESF
- Presents, "Mapping and Monitoring Forest Biomass and Carbon Stock-Changes across Complex Landscapes."
  - This talk describes ongoing development of a NY Forest Carbon Assessment system that combines field inventory, remote-sensing and machine-learning techniques to generate wall-to-wall, high-resolution maps of forest biomass and carbon stocks and their changes over time. The map-based carbon accounting system integrates current inventory, historical stock-change assessment, and monitoring/reporting/verification (MRV) functions and provides a versatile and efficient basis for decision-support applications, including forecasting of policy scenarios and prioritizing investments in forest-based climate solutions. Built in collaboration with federal and state agencies, as well as private landowner partners, this system was designed to serve as the informational backbone for NY’s efforts to strengthen and sustain its forest carbon sink, in balance with other forest benefits and values, as mandated by NY state climate law.
Mark Bradford, Professor of Soils & Ecosystem Ecology, Yale
- Presents, "Estimating forest carbon storage in the city."
  - Estimates of forest carbon storage in cities vary widely because they are strongly dependent on conceptions of what “urban forest” is. In this talk I explore the consequences of the different definitions and hence measurement of urban forest, using New York City as a case study. The results show that trees in forested areas of New York City account for the majority of carbon stored despite being a minority of the tree canopy. They suggest that urban forested areas should be at the center of urban greening policies looking to mitigate the climate footprint of cities.