Dense forest
stands with high fuel loads have become an overall problem on
private, state, and federal grounds with no economic means of
feasibly reducing those fuel loads, thinning stands, removing,
disposing or processing of the materials. While faced with concerns
of catastrophic fire, ecological derogation, and economic depression,
Ferry Conservation District has been working to find solutions
that would help to solve some of the above problems while protecting
other ecological concerns (ie. nesting trees, fish a wildlife
habitat, nutrient recycling, etc).
The habitat
portion of our study included using logs and rootwads, etc., and
incorporating them into streambank stabilization and habitat improvement
projects. This has already been implemented into all of our engineered
designs and utilized throughout our management programs. The development
of composting programs is in the works within our county; both
on the farm storage scale and in a feasibility study of a commercial
operation.
The results
for the estimates for biomass availability for thinning and fuel
reduction activities on a twenty year treatment cycle would amount
to 473,695 GT per year. Allowances for reserved lands and inaccessible
lands must be made before this figure can be used to make realistic
projections. If we conservatively assume that only 50% of the
potential amount could be recovered, we end up with a figure of
236,847.5 tons available per year. To this we then add the 137,498
tons of biomass available from timber harvest activities to arrive
at a final value of an estimated annually available tonnage of
374,345.5 GT per year.
This study
touched on just a few of the possibilities for utilizing biomass
within the area. There are literally hundreds if not thousands
of uses for biomass that are currently or soon will be available
for the development of industry within the study area. While this
study has demonstrated that there is sufficient material with
in the study area to supply the needs of large industrial developments
there was no way to ascertain the access to the material with
any degree of certainty. Forest Service lands and the Tribal lands
form the bulk of the timber holdings within the study area. The
choice of which options to pursue will be heavily influenced by
what industrial investors perceive to be the management philosophy
that will be implemented on these lands. There must be a strong
commitment from these two segments to provide an assured supply
of material. Multi-million dollar project developers will not
make commitments for investments of funds until there is a reasonable
assurance of supply. Federal and tribal land and resource managers
will need to engage in open collaborative planning processes with area and
industry stakeholders to provide the required level of assurances
to insure investment. There is
adequate supply from private property at current harvest and treatment
rates to supply small to medium sized ventures with material provided
that the venture can afford to pay for material at competitive
rates. The concept of an industrial park for small biomass associated
companies has some possibility to spur interest for the development
of these small industries. The processing waste from these small
business could be pooled to provide fuel for a biomass CHP plant
to serve the thermal heating and electrical needs of the industrial
park with excess electrical capacity, if any, sold to the wholesale
market. If the industrial park was designed to host pilot plant
scale demonstrations of emergent commercial processes, it could
serve as a spring board for future expansion of the emerging industries
as material feedstock becomes available. It could also serve as
a site for research and development of new technologies. The successful
development of such an industrial park would be a boon to the
service and support industries in the area as well.
The FIBER, FUEL, AND HABITAT 2004 Report is available at the Ferry
Conservation District. For more information please contact us. |
