A 30-year experiment in Victoria's mountain ash forests found that heavily thinned areas stored as much or more carbon in wood than unharvested controls. The study, part of the Silvicultural Systems Project launched in the late 1980s, tracked regeneration at Tanjil Bren and Cabbage Tree Creek. By 2014, trees left after thinning were significantly larger, with the biggest diameters about 20% greater than trees in untouched areas. The findings matter for forest carbon accounting and climate policy. They suggest that in some wet eucalypt forests, intensive thinning can restore carbon stocks within three decades while also producing larger trees that may resist fire better and create hollows used by species like the greater glider and Leadbeater's possum. Researchers caution that thinning is not a universal fix, but it could be one tool for creating forests with more diversity in tree ages and sizes.
