Establish reserves on sites with high carbon density

Areas with exceptionally high densities of carbon may warrant protection through the establishment of reserves. Reserves are traditionally defined as natural areas with little to no harvest activity that do not exclude management of fire or other natural disturbance processes. However, the impacts of climate change on forest carbon dynamics may necessitate an adjustment of the use and definition of reserves, such that it may be valuable to retain flexibility in the use of management practices that support the maintenance of high carbon stocks.

Ecosystem carbon density varies spatially across forest and community types due to many factors, such as differences in topography, hydrology, soils, stand age, and disturbance and management history and how these elements influence plant community composition and carbon flux processes. Sites may have high carbon stock densities from either enhanced carbon inputs or conditions that reduce the loss of carbon. High carbon inputs to a site can result from greater productivity of vegetation, high densities of aboveground biomass, or translocation of carbon from adjacent sites, such as soil deposition in floodplains. Additionally, sites may have high carbon densities from reduced carbon losses, such as hydrologic conditions that result in saturated soil conditions limited decomposition and that cause the formation of organic soils. When managing forest ecosystems for carbon, identifying sites containing high carbon densities may be a priority for management in order to retain existing forest carbon stocks. A changing climate is expected to impact sites important for carbon stocks in different ways, depending on vulnerability of the carbon stocks or flux processes to climatic or biological stressors that are expected to intensify.