ECC: Planting Trees & carbon sequestration
The CUFR Calculator estimates that Douglas-fir, which is the only Pacific Northwest conifer tree available on the carbon calculator at this time, sequesters 13.9 tons of carbon by its 100th birthday. We will continue to actively seek best available science to make these estimates as accurate as possible.
Â
Although one Douglas-fir is expected to sequester almost 14 tons of carbon in the first 100 years, ECC plants one tree for every 5 tons of carbon to be sequestered. This accounts for an estimated survival rate of 50% plus a 30% contingency rate to account for variations among planting sites and sequestration rate variations between native conifer species.
We conservatively estimated the 50% tree seedling survival rate based on our experience planting and monitoring trees through Forterra’s local land restoration and stewardship programs as well as reviewed multiple journals, abstracts, and reports on tree seedling survival rates in the Pacific Northwest (see resources cited below). We will work with our partners to monitor survival of the trees planted through this program to continue to strengthen the accuracy of these values.


- Grossnickle, S.C. and Y.A. El-Kassaby (2015). Bareroot versus container stock types: a performance comparison. New Forests.
- Cockle, A. and G. Ettl (2010) Survival and Growth of Western red cedar and Douglas-fir planted in a variable retention harvest unit in the Western Cascades, Washington. USDA Forest Service General Technical Report PNW-GTR-828.
- Rietveld, W. J. (1989). Transplanting stress in bare root conifer seedlings: its development and progression to establishment. Northern Journal of Applied Forestry.
- Livingston, N. J. And T. A. Black. (1987). Water stress and survival of three species of conifer seedlings planted on a high elevation south facing clear-cut. Canadian Journal of Forest Research.