A Life-Cycle Assessment of Forest Resources of the Pacific Northwest, USA

Life-cycle inventory (LCI) and life-cycle assessment (LCA) were used to provide quantitative assessments of the environmental impacts of forest management activities that are required to produce feedstock for wood products such as
lumber, engineered panels, and pulp. Primary and secondary data were gathered for the Pacific Northwest Douglas-fir region of the United States to produce an attributional LCA that includes planting, growing, and harvesting trees that are destined for use in wood manufacturing. Using the Tool for the Reduction and Assessment of Chemical and other environmental Impacts (TRACI) method, under average management conditions, forest operations can expect to generate from 10 to 18 kg CO2 equivalent (CO2 eq) per cubic meter (m3) of logs ready to leave the landing for the manufacturing facility, depending on the amount of forest residues that are piled and burned. This same cubic meter of log plus bark will have sequestered 960 kg CO2 eq during its growth cycle, for a net greenhouse gas sink of 942 to 950 kg CO2 eq per m3. Forest management impacts are from 1 to 13 percent of the total impacts from the cradle to gate for global warming potential and the potential to increase smog, eutrophication, and acidification. Upstream impacts associated with the production of herbicides are reflected in the ozone potential impact category. These LCA results can be used as upstream processes for wood manufacturers interested in developing Environmental Product Declarations for products that use these resources as inputs.

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