Forests in the
Pacific Northwest store more carbon than any other region in the United States,
but our warming climate may undermine their storage potential.
A new study conducted by the U.S. Forest Service's Pacific
Northwest Research Station and the Climate Impacts Group at the University
of Washington has found that, by 2040, parts of Washington State could lose as
much as a third of their carbon
stores, as an increasing area of the state's forests is projected to be burned by
more-frequent
wildfires,
triggered
by a warming climate
.
