I said younger trees "may" sop up extra carbon, which could be true relative to the fact that they are producing more woody matter per annual cycle, whereas the mature trees are "fixed." In other words, how one "jukes the stats" is how this could be interpreted. It would make perfect sense for the timber industry to promote this questionable "fact."

My main point was that trees, no matter what their age, play a much larger role than just carbon sinks and they need to be looked at in a holistic manner as being part of the overall life cycle.

Living and teaching Earth friendly sustainable agricultural practices.

in the annual ritual of Spring Planting and all that entails, so by necessity my answer to your long posting will have to be brief. Also, because we are on slow speed dial-up, checking all your posted links would take an inordinate amount of time I can't spare. Kind of like Alice's Restaurant and the trial with the blind judge not being able to view all the defendant's 8X10 glossy photos.

Removing the largest and often oldest trees in logger terms is called high-grading. The downside is that it is tough to get them down and out without lots of damage to other, younger trees, and by removing the big, older, healthy trees, you take away the best genetic seed producers. Most of our current forest land in Tennessee consists mainly of stump sprouts which creates a weaker and genetically inferior stand of trees.

Rather than let the forest regrow to a healthy and mature state, the timber industry came up with a way to use this inferior tree stock by creating so-called engineered lumber, a structurally weak, toxic, easily degraded form of glue bonded wood chips. This will only ensure that the forest will never again be allowed to reach maturity.

While I support wood construction of homes, I do question size needs and the resource drain on over-sized ego homes and faux mansions. The key word here is sustainable. Builders routinely bulldoze the lot clear, burn the formerly existing trees, and then build entirely with imported wood.

In short, an attitude is at play here, and the facts and stats will be juked around to rationalize the continued destruction of the web of life within the forest. Old trees falling and rotting in the forest are not the reason we have excessively high carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. While better forest management might provide some benefit, it pales beside the changes that would occur if we all limited ourselves to one small hybrid vehicle, or stopped burning coal to generate electricity.

Bottom line, we can't continue to live the environmentally wasteful, resource extravagant way we do, poisoning nearly every life-form on the planet, and expect the situation to improve.

Birds and small mammals need dead trees for nesting cavities, deer need saplings for browse, and young saplings need nurse logs. The inter-dependent links and symbiotic relationships with all parts of the forest from floor to canopy top is endless. When it is managed for profit alone, then it suffers great harm.

Trees move moisture from the ground, out through the leaves and into the atmosphere. This release creates a chemical reaction which helps seed clouds to produce rain. Trees are part of the hydrological cycle and big trees are a big part of that cycle as their roots and canopies are extensive.

I hope this answers some of your questions.

Living and teaching Earth friendly sustainable agricultural practices.