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bioweb.sungrant.org » Technical » Biomass Resources » Forest Resources » Fuel Treatment Resources

Fuel Treatment Resources	Printer Friendly

Due to the high cost of mechanically removing biomass from high fuel load areas, removal of some merchantable timber for conventional fiber uses in addition to small diameter trees and dead, rough, or rotten material has been suggested as a means to subsidize the cost. However, the harvest of substantial quantities of merchantable timber can have a significant impact on local and national fiber markets. Ince (2006) examined these implications for public lands only in the 12 states evaluated by Skog which further reduces the total acres to 10.9 million acres for uneven aged thinning operations and 5.6 million acres for even aged thinning operations. The estimated amount of biomass potentially available was 23.2 and 9.9 billion ft3 (about 290 and 124 million dry tons assuming an average density 25 dry lb/ft3 for pine species) for uneven and even aged thinning respectively. The economic costs and impacts of fuel treatment removals from 2005 to 2020 were examined for a number of scenarios, and conventional fiber markets were sufficient to utilize about 2/3 of the removed material. Annual equilibrium wood removal levels ranged from 0.5 billion ft3 (about 6.25 million dry tons) to 1.5 billion ft3 (about 18.75 million dry tons) and involved treatment of 3.4 to 8.4 million acres depending on scenario and fuel treatment approach. The increased quantities of timber from public lands displaced timber harvests from private lands and for all scenarios examined, reduced projected stumpage prices for timber (by $0.75 to $1.85/ft3 by 2020 depending on scenario).   Excessive fuel loading in forest lands in the Eastern U.S. also occurs and thus the total quantity of fuel treatment resources that could be available for bioenergy and bioproducts is potentially significantly higher than just the quantities estimated for the 15 states in the West.    Perlack (2005) estimated the annual availability of 59.6 million dry tons of fuel treatment thinnings. The analysis assumes that 30% of the material is available for bioenergy while the remainder is used for conventional fiber products. The analysis did not estimate the cost of removing the material or evaluate the economic implications of displacing traditional fiber sources.   The USDA Forest Service (USDA-FS, 2007) 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.

References
Ince, Peter J., Andrew Kramp, Henry Spelter, Ken Skog, and Dennis Dykstra, FTM-West: Fuel Treatment Market Model for the U.S. West, Draft Manuscript, 2006. Perlack, Robert D., Lynn L. Wright, Anthony F. Turhollow, Robin L. Graham, Bryce J. Stokes, and Donald C. Erbach, Biomass as Feedstocks for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry: The Technical Feasibility of A Billion-Ton Annual Supply, April 2005, ORNL/TM-2005/66. Rummer, Bob, Jeff Prestemon, Dennis May, Pat Miles, John Vissage, Ron McRoberts, Greg Liknes, Wayne D. Shepperd, Dennis Ferguson, William Elliot, Sue Miller, Steve Teutebuch, Jamie Barbour, Jeremy Fried, Bryce Stokes, Edward Bilek, and Ken Skog, A Strategic Assessment of Forest Biomass and Fuel Reduction Treatments in Western States, USDA Forest Service, April 2003. Skog, Ken, Jamie Barbour, Karen Abt, Ted Bilek, Frank Burch, Roger Fight, Bobby Huggett, Pat Miles, Wayne Sheppard, and Elizabeth Reinhardt, Identifying Wood Utilization Opportunity Areas to Support Fuels Management in Western States, Presentation, Personal Communication, 2006. USDA Forest Service, Healthy Forests Reports, FY 2007 Accomplishments, 12/11/2007; http://www.forestsandrangelands.gov.