Between 100 and 200 million acres of U.S. forest lands are estimated to be at high risk for catastrophic wildfires due to overcrowded conditions and the build-up of diseased and dead materials. The removal of this material offers a potentially new source of forest materials for bioenergy and bioproducts. Depending on the scenarios examined, as much as 445 million dry tons of material could potentially be available in 15 Western states alone.
The Healthy Forests Initiative and the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 (P.L.108-148) include provisions to remove and utilize excess woody biomass material to produce a full range of wood fiber products and bioenergy and bioproducts. The USDA Forest Service reports that from 2001 to 2007, 6.802 million acres of forest land was mechanically thinned, and that of the 1.3 million acres thinned in 2007, material from 23% of the acres were used for fiber, bioenergy, and/or bioproducts.