Carbon Sequestration
The role of the Forest’s majestic trees in carbon sequestration is critical to municipal and regional climate planning. Efforts to reduce carbon emissions from the built environment (66% of Madison’s footprint) will be nil if we lose our tree canopy.
Because it is an intact forest with some of the oldest trees in Morris County, the 53-acre Drew Forest has critical carbon sequestration benefits that cannot be replicated by individual trees in suburban yards.
Peer-reviewed research is clear: Large trees store the most carbon. They remove carbon dioxide, the dominant greenhouse gas, from the air and store it for decades or even centuries.
Intact forests, like the Drew Preserve, take up the most carbon; they may store up to half of their carbon as soil carbon. One study found that intact forests held 40% more carbon than did tree plantations, which have younger trees and are less diverse.
Trees in the US remove 11% of our total emissions (and northeastern forests may be able to become even more effective).
Yearly, one acre of canopy trees absorbs enough CO2 to offset a car driven 26,000 miles. The same acre produces enough oxygen for 18 people to breathe.
Mature trees take more than a generation to grow. To replicate the carbon benefits of one large tree with a 25-inch diameter, 189 two-inch diameter saplings need to be planted.
In monetary terms, over 50 years, a single large canopy tree generates about $30,000 in oxygen, purifies $35,000 worth of water, and removes $60,000 worth of air pollution.
Tree loss in New Jersey is increasing rapidly due to tornadoes, hurricanes, damage from non-native insects such the Emerald Ash Borer and invasive species, including tree-choking Chinese wisteria vines that have been removed in the restored areas of the Drew Forest.
