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“the issue is that they eventually die and rot, and then that carbon gets released right back into the atmosphere”

You make it sound like a rapid process. Univ of Arizona did a study that showed CO2 emissions of dead trees was lower than living ones due to the rotting process being very slow compared to a living trees normal respiration cycle

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Well the timescale of climate change is on the order of a few decades to a century. The decomposition process is somewhat slow by human standards, but it's still fast compared to a century. In order to effectively remove CO2 from the atmosphere to prevent climate change, it needs to be removed on timescales longer than a century.

decomposition doesn’t evaporate the tree into the air, it can build the soil and become habitat for larger animals (which also count as biomass)

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