Protecting native forests more valuable than logging

New research has found Mountain Ash forests provide more value to the community and the global climate when protected and not logged. Research scientists at the ANU, in partnership with information and communication technologists at Fujitsu Laboratories in Japan, have used long-term field data from the Central Highlands in Victoria to calculate the social, economic and environmental values of the forests after wildfire and after logging. "Quantifying natural resources and the services they provide for human wellbeing is important in evaluating land management decisions," said researcher Dr Heather Keith from the Fenner School of Environment and Society. Known as ecosystem services, the results show that protecting forests by ending logging could double the amount of carbon stored in the trees. Avoiding emissions from logging native forests is important to help fight climate change. These results are being presented at the World Parks Congress in Sydney this week. "In a harvested forest, the amount of carbon stored in the regrowth forest, plus wood products and landfill, is about half that stored in the protected forest," Dr Keith said.