A new report offers the clearest picture to date of how forests in Canada’s national parks help fight climate change by storing large amounts of carbon, but also warns that this storage capacity is at risk from natural disturbances, especially wildfires. The report, released last month by Parks Canada, is the first in a planned series of “carbon atlases” by researchers at the national parks service.
The publications will look at how Canada’s protected areas capture, store and emit carbon dioxide, the primary greenhouse gas that results from human activities. This initial research shows that forests in Canadian parks – from the rainforests of Haida Gwaii to the boreal forests of Wood Buffalo National Park – suck up heroic amounts of carbon and store it away in trees, soil and deadwood, year after yea