The Wood Carbon Seminar brought up some discussion on forestry, certification and the impact on the carbon cycle. One interesting discussion is the logging of old growth forest, which some researchers say increases forest fire susceptibility (Lindenmayer et. al. 2009). The carbon released during forest fires is enormous, with estimates of the recent Australian bushfires at 900 Mt, not to mention the devastating loss of habitat and ecosystems. Worryingly, the increasing temperature to forest fire feedback is not accounted for in the climate projections.
With the Northern Hemisphere heading into summer with a presumably reduced firefighting capacity thanks to the pandemic, my question is should we be fighting every fire, or can selective logging or other forestry practices be used to mitigate the risks?