Forests represent a vast reservoir of stored carbon in the United States. Depending on forest management, land use management, and other changes to forest inventories, forests can either sequester or emit atmospheric carbon. Analysis of historical FIA records shows a net gain in forest carbon stocks between 1990 and 2008 of about 2.8 billion metric tons (7%), mainly because of an accumulation of biomass in the Nation’s forests (Heath et al. 2011). Forests sequestered carbon over this period.

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