Name
Carbon Quantification of Airport Park
Date & Time
Wednesday, May 15, 2024, 4:15 PM - 4:30 PM
Location Name
Salon A
Description

Airport Park, a 36-acre unzoned urban forest in Morgantown, WV, directly adjacent to the Morgantown airport, was donated to the West Virginia Land Trust in 2022 with no usage restrictions. Despite partial surface mining, 28 acres form a maturing hardwood forest of quality and rapid growth, presenting an opportunity for enrollment into the voluntary carbon market. Under the auspices of the non-profit carbon registry, City Forest Credits, the project will focus on the conservation of urban forest carbon and ecosystem services. To assess this, aerial imagery, lidar-based models, and field methods were required to make an accurate and precise estimation of said services. A detailed assessment highlighted the differences in three stands regarding species, age, structure, and growth potential. These important measures of stand productivity allowed for the estimation of current and future contributions to carbon sequestration, runoff reduction, air quality improvement, and energy savings.