Carbon reservoir and biomass in Canadian prairie shelterbelts

Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, mainly carbon dioxide (CO2), can be mitigated by the planting of trees and shrubs. Appropriate agroforestry practices in Saskatchewan include field and farmyard shelterbelts, wildlife plantations, poplar plantations and managed woodlots. A study was conducted to determine the amount of carbon held in prairie shelterbelts. The effect of the soil type and tree species on biomass and carbon content was measured in shelterbelts in the brown, dark brown and black soil zones of Saskatchewan. For some of the main shelterbelt species, the mean aboveground carbon content was 79 kg/tree (32 t/km) for green ash, 263 kg/tree (105 t/km) for poplar, 144 kg/tree (41 t/km) for white spruce and 26 t/km for caragana. In the brown and the dark brown soils, which are more arid than the black soil zone, trees had 60.6% and 65.5%, respectively, of the biomass and carbon content of trees and shrubs in the black soil zone. Improved, fast-growing poplar clones had the greatest biomass at maturity and fixed the greatest amount of carbon. Simple equations were developed to calculate the carbon contents of prairie shelterbelts, based on easily measured tree or shrub parameters. This paper will discuss the results of this particular study and the broader implications of this work.