Recognizing the value of forests for addressing climate is an essential step in slowing and eventually reversing the growth of atmospheric carbon dioxide.

However, it is a pipe dream to assume that increasing the use of wood products for materials like rayon and buildings will be an effective solution. It is essential that we protect all remaining older and intact forests, and set aside at least half of all secondary forests to become large sinks for carbon and havens for biodiversity. Proforestation managements that allow forests to achieve their ecological potential for carbon storage and ecological structure is far more effective than planting new trees that will take many decades to remove significant amounts of carbon. We must pay land owners to store carbon on their lands and halt harvesting on much of our public forested lands. This is the lowest cost contribution to closing the gap between emissions and removal rates. We must simultaneously increase forest growth and decrease emissions from forest losses and fossil fuel emissions. Accurate accounting from all sources including from the forest products industry is essential to success. The proposal described here is well intentioned, but lacks rigorous quantitative analysis.