The Urban Forestry Effects (UFORE) model quantifies the ecological benefits of urban forests. UFORE has been utilized by the NPS for Washington DC and by many municipalities for urban areas. However it has not been applied to natural forests. We conducted a UFORE analysis of Prince William Forest Park during 2007. One hundred randomly selected tenth acre plots wee measured for species composition and individual tree characteristics statistics including tree height, DBH, canopy architecture and general tree health. These data were then input into the UFORE model to generate outputs such as carbon storage and sequestration and air pollution abatement for the forest.
Results/Conclusions
The National Park is estimated to contain over 6,287,000 trees with American beech being the dominant tree species present. Carbon storage in the park was estimated at 394,000 tons of carbon with an estimated carbon sequestration rate of 12,300 tons of carbon per year. This forest also provides an annual air pollution abatement of key air pollutants of 414 tons. These results quantify and affirm the ecological importance of the forests surrounding metropolitan DC and will be used by the NPS to demonstrate to policy makers and the public the ecological service provided by and value of NPS forests and of green space within communities.
