Carbon benefits from protected areas in the conterminous United States

Zheng, Daolan; Heath, Linda S; Ducey, Mark J

doi:10.1186/1750-0680-8-4

Carbon Balance and Management

Table 1 Estimated net area change rates in percent (calculated as (Area _aff – Area _def ) / Area ₁₉₉₂ x 100) in protected (Pro) and unprotected (Unp) forests by state in the conterminous U.S based on the NLCD Retrofit Change Map (1992–2001), and the PADUS 1.1 dataset; and forest areas (km ² ) as described

From: Carbon benefits from protected areas in the conterminous United States

			Forest Area (km²)
State	Pro. Rate %	Unp. Rate %	In Protected Area¹	Due to Protection²	In Unprotected Scenario³
Alabama⁺	−4.04	−6.33	1,045	25	906
Arizona*	−1.53	−7.56	6,632	406	40
Arkansas⁺	−0.06	−4.67	8,411	388	498
California*	−1.31	−2.42	17,826	202	187
Colorado*	−1.97	−8.22	14,009	894	324
Connecticut	−0.64	−2.47	310	6	31
Delaware^#	−6.9	−5.34	54	NA	12
Florida⁺	−6.13	−7.85	704	13	388
Georgia⁺	−3.66	−7.95	2,238	100	1,144
Idaho*	−3.4	−4.69	11,037	147	110
Illinois	1	−1.83	2,021	57	68
Indiana	0.54	−0.56	1,857	20	20
Iowa	−1.77	−1.78	278	0	32
Kansas^$	3.41	1.5	91	NA	NA
Kentucky⁺	−0.75	−3.19	1,316	32	325
Louisiana⁺	−0.94	−8.69	1,586	124	438
Maine	−1.29	−3.08	1,917	35	304
Maryland	−1.5	−2.92	655	9	45
Massachusetts	−0.37	−3.87	540	19	63
Michigan^$	1.43	0.67	10,034	NA	NA
Minnesota^$	1.16	0.37	6,084	NA	NA
Mississippi⁺	−2.07	−5.06	378	12	477
Missouri	0.22	−2.47	3,589	97	290
Montana*	−0.38	−4.7	13,526	587	138
Nebraska^#	−4.19	−1.23	183	NA	8
Nevada*	−1.03	−17.21	7,008	1,146	47
New Hampshire	0.1	−1.27	2,044	28	32
New Jersey	−1.04	−2.95	2,192	42	23
New Mexico*	−0.5	−1.26	8,780	67	27
New York	−0.22	−1.95	10,259	178	196
North Carolina⁺	2.09	−5.7	1,760	134	603
North Dakota^$	1.22	0.63	332	NA	NA
Ohio	0.51	−1.95	587	14	121
Oklahoma⁺	0.65	−3.57	1,554	65	257
Oregon*	−2.09	−9.41	8,423	629	613
Pennsylvania	−0.1	−1.28	2,051	24	140
Rhode Island	−1.41	−4.69	70	2	9
South Carolina⁺	−3.39	−8.32	713	36	540
South Dakota^#	−7.51	−2.9	480	NA	11
Tennessee⁺	−0.56	−4.4	3,019	117	448
Texas⁺	0.38	−6.87	1,326	96	1,002
Utah*	−1.09	−3.6	8,969	227	74
Vermont	0.1	−0.78	957	8	21
Virginia⁺	1.58	−3.3	3,413	177	347
Washington*	−0.26	−5.55	13,982	740	288
West Virginia	−0.4	−1.1	2,476	17	98
Wisconsin	−0.44	−0.92	7,088	35	88
Wyoming*	0.44	−8.43	9,897	874	88
Area change⁴	−0.74	−4.07
Mean rate⁵ (%)	−1	−3.98
Std.	2.17	3.4
US48			203,701	7,829	10,921

¹ Amount of 2001 forestland (km²) in protected areas.
² Forest area (km²) that would be reduced in the protected forests if net forest area loss rates in the corresponding unprotected forests (i.e., within the same state) were applied.
³ How much forest area (km²) could be increased in the unprotected forests if net forest loss rates were reduced by 20%. Negative rate indicates a forest loss whereas positive rate suggests a forest gain.
⁴ Area weighted.
⁵ Mean forest area change rate of the 48 states and standard deviation were both in percent.
⁺ 13 Southern states (see Figure 2).
^* 11 Western states. The remaining states were in the Northern region.
^# States where forest area loss rates in the protected forests were larger than those in the unprotected forests. Therefore, calculation of presumed additional area loss in the protected forests using forest area loss rates in the corresponding unprotected forests (i.e., within the same state) were not applicable (NA).
^$ States gained forest areas during the period, thus, no reduction in forest area loss is applicable (NA).

Back to article page

ISSN: 1750-0680

Contact us

Submission enquiries: journalsubmissions@springernature.com