ARTICLES DOI: 10.1007/~00267-003-9101-X Carbon Stocks and Projections on Public Forestlands in the United States, 1952-2040

ABSTRACT / Approximately 37 % of forestlands in the conter-minous United States are publicly owned; they represent a substantial area of potential carbon sequestration in US for-ests and in forest products. However, large areas of public forestlands traditionally have been less intensively inventoried than privately owned forests. Thus, less information is avail-able about their role as carbon sinks. We present estimates of carbon budgets on public forestlands of the 48 conterminous states, along with a discussion of the assumptions necessary to make such estimates. The forest carbon budget simulation model, FORCARB2, makes estimates for US forests primarily based on inventory data. We discuss methods to develop consistent carbon budget estimates from inventory data at varying levels of detail. Total carbon stored on public forest-lands in the conterminous US increased from 16.3 Gt in 195