Dr. William Keeton: Carbon, Complexity, and the Future of Old Growth

About this episode

Dr. William Keeton discusses the significance of old-growth forests and their ecological functions.

Dr. William Keeton is a forest ecologist and silviculturalist at the University of Vermont who has spent most of his career studying old-growth forests in the eastern United States and around the world. In this conversation, he joins hosts Bill Hodge and Anders Reynolds to examine what old growth actually is, where it still exists in the East, and why its fate matters for climate, biodiversity, and the landscapes future generations will inherit. The episode opens with a deceptively simple question: what is an old-growth forest? Keeton explains that old growth is not a fixed condition but a stage of forest development characterized by structural complexity, habitat diversity, and a suite of ecological functions including carbon storage, hydrologic regulation, and biodiversity support. He pushes back on the assumption that eastern forests have nothing to offer compared to towering Pacific Northwest Douglas firs or coastal redwoods, walking through the surprising inventory findings of the past few decades that reveal far more old growth in the eastern United States than was previously believed, from the Adirondacks of upstate New York to the Southern Appalachians and the longleaf…

People in this episode

Hosts: Bill Hodge, Anders Reynolds

Guest: Dr. William Keeton

Topics covered

• old-growth forests
• forest ecology
• climate change
• biodiversity
• mycorrhizal fungi
• carbon storage

Keywords

• old-growth
• forest ecology
• carbon storage
• biodiversity
• mycorrhizal fungi
• climate
• eastern forests

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: University of Vermont

Places: eastern United States, Adirondacks, Southern Appalachians, Gulf Coast, Swedish old-growth forests

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