The Impact of The Adirondack Forest
 
Having a huge forest changes the economics for the Adirondacks. There are two main questions about its impact. Does it consume carbon and therefore have a real value to people looking to cut carbon, and secondly, can a forest be some kind of a low pollution renewable energy source?
 
Does the Forest Make a Real Difference? 

 
We've had some interesting conversations on this subject. The short answer is that the trees in the Adirondacks (made out of carbon) take up what could be 25 percent of the Co2 we make inside the Blue Line each year. The longer answer, in time and thinking, is that the forest itself is such a huge force it is really hard to say how it will act. In Canada, there is new evidence that forests there have turned into net emitters of carbon. (The Adirondack forests are a huge carbon sink, meaning we hold about 40 times what New York City makes in a year. You can think about a sink like a sink. It holds that much, but it's not what it takes in each year, and the sink can be full. Read here about new research that shows how old forests continue to take up carbon.
 
What does this mean for the Adirondacks?  We might have a special advantage in that we can grow biofuels here, and create jobs, and by managing the private lands properly generate a net zero carbon energy source. The forest also does help us out now, it does take in a quarter of the carbon pollution we make each year, but that may not last.