The hedgerows in the UK are amazing. Do they help with carbon sequestration?

Today my curiosity is about learning what the positive impact on carbon sequestration the hedgerows have.

Living in the UK and driving in the country side, many of the farms are surrounded and divided up by hedgerows. I am fortunate to walk along hedgerows daily. I have been observing the growth in spring and summer and the annual trimming that seems to support on the first days of October and Autumn. I have been observing particularly of late the ivy growing in and contemplating how to help and understand the role of ivy in all of this. See this post http://18.170.219.150/2024/01/04/deciding-the-fate-of-my-gardens-english-ivy-invasion/ for more about my curiosity about ivy.

I have seen other dividers of farm land that are stone. These are very attractive looking as well and probably provide a different type of maintenance and care. The hedgerows definitely require upkeep it seems as they grow quite large.

The curiosity for today though is amount their carbon sequestration benefits. While it seems obvious there is a benefit I am interested to quantify it.

Other hedgerow information to research:
1. Trees that make up the hedgerows.
2. Any known carbon sequestration tables for those trees

For three that typically make up the hedgerows in the UK.

Typically, hedgerows in the UK are composed of a variety of tree and shrub species. Common species include hawthorn, blackthorn, field maple, hazel, spindle, and wayfaring tree. These are often complemented by taller trees like oak and ash. Additionally, hedgerows frequently include rambling plants such as bramble and rose, along with climbers like honeysuckle and wild clematis. These species combinations make UK hedgerows rich habitats for wildlife. For more detailed information, you can visit The Wildlife Trusts’ website on Hedgerows.

From my personal experience, I have seen a lot of cow parsely, stinging nettle and ferns growing on the verge next to hedges among others. These will also be researched to understand if they are helping or hurting hedgerow health. I also have quite a bit of holly and elder in the hedgerows.

For any known carbon sequestration tables for those trees
https://winrock.org/flr-calculator/
This is an interesting calculator that looks at regional sequestration benefits across species and areas. It does not quite get to a one by one table but definitely worthy of more study.

https://8billiontrees.com/carbon-offsets-credits/carbon-ecological-footprint-calculators/how-much-carbon-does-a-tree-capture/
This one seems to have the calculator for a single tree although not the tree type nor support hedge size version of trees. I did some math to estimate. There is a year variable is well which I left as 1 year although I believe the hedges I see regularly are at least 20 years old.

Here’s a bullet-point summary of the environmental benefits provided by a single tree, along with a calculation for a hedge version:

Example:
Circumference of the Tree: Less Than 7 3/4
How Many Trees?  1
How Many Years Old?  1

• Oxygen Production: 12 lbs of Oxygen per tree.
• Breathing Support: Supports the daily oxygen needs of 6 people.
• Carbon Storage: Stores 4 lbs of carbon.
• Air Travel Equivalent: Comparable to 71 ft. traveled in a commercial plane.
• Water Evaporation: Facilitates 119 gallons of water evaporation.
• Cooling Effect: Equivalent to the cooling effect of 5 air conditioners operating for 20 hours.

To calculate these benefits for a hedge version of a tree, we need to consider the size and growth patterns of the hedge compared to the tree. Typically, a hedge consists of smaller, densely planted shrubs or trees. For simplicity, let’s assume that a hedge plant is about 1/10th the size of the tree that provides these benefits.

Here are the estimated benefits for a hedge plant (1/10th the size of the tree):

• Oxygen Production: 1.2 lbs of Oxygen per hedge plant.
• Breathing Support: Supports the daily oxygen needs of 0.6 people (or provides 60% of the daily oxygen requirement for one person).
• Carbon Storage: Stores 0.4 lbs of carbon.
• Air Travel Equivalent: Comparable to 7.1 ft. traveled in a commercial plane.
• Water Evaporation: Facilitates 11.9 gallons of water evaporation.
• Cooling Effect: Equivalent to the cooling effect of 0.5 air conditioners operating for 20 hours.
  

We will reach out to 8 billion trees to get more background.

The video goes into detail about using a software product called InVEST. This seems to be directionally a tool that we would be interested in. I want to take more time to explore that.

In conclusion the quest for a reliable and confirmed calculator is in progress, and it is encouraging to be getting close and closer to what we are looking for.

Tangent on hedgerow maintenance.
I found this account https://www.instagram.com/westcountry_hedgelayer/ which goes into fun depth about building and maintaining hedgerows. This topic is interesting and possibly a resource for more information about hedgerow benefits to carbon sequestration.