Pictured here: Ponderosa pine, Pinus ponderosa, and Douglas fir, Pseudotsuga menziesii. Credit: The authors

图为黄松、黄松和道格拉斯冷杉、假红杉。图片来源：作者

The study highlights the importance of protecting existing large trees and strengthening the 21-inch rule so that additional carbon is accumulated as 21-30″ diameter trees are allowed to continue to grow to their ecological potential, and letting a sufficient number of sub-21 inch trees grow further and become additional large, effective carbon stores.

Dr. Mildrexler argues that this is among the most effective short-term options for stabilizing climate change and providing other valuable ecosystem services:

该研究强调了保护现有大树和加强 21 英寸规定的重要性，以便在允许 21-30 英寸直径的树木继续生长到其生态潜力时积累额外的碳，并让足够数量的 21 英寸的树木进一步生长并成为额外的大型有效碳储存。

Mildrexler 博士认为，这是稳定气候变化和提供其他有价值生态系统服务的最有效的短期选择之一：

“Large trees are the cornerstones of diversity and resilience for the entire forest community. They support rich communities of plants, birds, mammals, insects, and micro-organisms, as well as act as giant water towers that tap into groundwater resources and cool our planet through evaporation.”

“大树是整个森林种群多样性和恢复力的基石。它们为丰富的植物、鸟类、哺乳动物、昆虫和微生物群落提供支持，并充当巨大的水塔，利用地下水资源并通过蒸发冷却我们的星球。”

“There is a real need for monitoring forest condition beyond what the forest service does on their inventory plots, and so local communities can also play their part to provide citizen science data and learn about the living forests on their lands, contributing to community income and mitigating climate change.”

“除了森林服务在其库存地块上所做的工作之外，确实需要监测森林状况，因此当地社区也可以发挥自己的作用，提供公民科学数据并了解他们土地上的活森林，为社区增加收入和减缓气候变化。”