---
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caption: 'Historical, current, and projected annual rates of forest ecosystem and harvested wood product CO<sub>2</sub> net emissions/sequestration in the U.S. from 1635 to 2055. In the top panel, the change in the historical annual carbon emissions (black line) in the early 1900s corresponds to the peak in the transformation of large parts of the U.S. from forested land to agricultural land uses. Green shading shows this decline in forest land area. In the bottom panel, future projections shown under higher (A2) and lower (B2 and A1B) emissions scenarios show forests as carbon sources (due to loss of forest area and accelerating disturbance rates) rather than sinks in the latter half of this century. The A1B scenario assumes similar emissions to the A2 scenario used in this report through 2050, and a slow decline thereafter. (Data from EPA 2013;<tbib>13e4d075-f7bd-4fd4-a41f-a1f0cd93356d</tbib> USFS 2012;<tbib>2545714a-f4ac-48f4-8c8f-b0954f3cfef6</tbib> Birdsey 2006<tbib>4c53dfcf-e3e2-47e0-a356-369324e49cd5</tbib>).'
chapter:
  description: ~
  display_name: 'Chapter 7: Forests'
  doi: 10.7930/J0Z60KZC
  identifier: forests
  number: 7
  report_identifier: nca3
  sort_key: 70
  title: Forests
  url: http://nca2014.globalchange.gov/report/sectors/forests
chapter_identifier: forests
cited_by: []
contributors: []
create_dt: ~
description: 'Historical, current, and projected annual rates of forest ecosystem and harvested wood product CO<sub>2</sub> net emissions/sequestration in the U.S. from 1635 to 2055. In the top panel, the change in the historical annual carbon emissions (black line) in the early 1900s corresponds to the peak in the transformation of large parts of the U.S. from forested land to agricultural land uses. Green shading shows this decline in forest land area. In the bottom panel, future projections shown under higher (A2) and lower (B2 and A1B) emissions scenarios show forests as carbon sources (due to loss of forest area and accelerating disturbance rates) rather than sinks in the latter half of this century. The A1B scenario assumes similar emissions to the A2 scenario used in this report through 2050, and a slow decline thereafter. (Data from EPA 2013;<tbib>13e4d075-f7bd-4fd4-a41f-a1f0cd93356d</tbib> USFS 2012;<tbib>2545714a-f4ac-48f4-8c8f-b0954f3cfef6</tbib> Birdsey 2006<tbib>4c53dfcf-e3e2-47e0-a356-369324e49cd5</tbib>).'
display_name: '7.6: Forests and Carbon'
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href: http://52.38.26.42:8080/report/nca3/chapter/forests/figure/forests-and-carbon.yaml
identifier: forests-and-carbon
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ordinal: 6
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references:
  - href: http://52.38.26.42:8080/reference/13e4d075-f7bd-4fd4-a41f-a1f0cd93356d.yaml
    uri: /reference/13e4d075-f7bd-4fd4-a41f-a1f0cd93356d
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report:
  display_name: 'Climate Change Impacts in the United States: The Third National Climate Assessment'
report_identifier: nca3
source_citation: 'EPA 2013; USFS 2012; Birdsey 2006<tbib>4c53dfcf-e3e2-47e0-a356-369324e49cd5</tbib><sup>,</sup><tbib>2545714a-f4ac-48f4-8c8f-b0954f3cfef6</tbib><sup>,</sup><tbib>13e4d075-f7bd-4fd4-a41f-a1f0cd93356d</tbib>'
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title: Forests and Carbon
type: figure
uri: /report/nca3/chapter/forests/figure/forests-and-carbon
url: http://nca2014.globalchange.gov/report/sectors/forests/graphics/forests-and-carbon
usage_limits: Copyright protected. Obtain permission from the original figure source.