Tyler Pederson
02/13/12
Now that I have taken numerous forestry classes and have some field experience, I’ve become more and more interested in wood utilization. Wood utilization is the way we use the timber after it has been cut out of a harvest. Right now, the main markets for timber are veneer (best quality), sawlogs, and pulp (paper products). Veneer and sawlogs come from the main bole, or stem, and are usually 12” in diameter or bigger. These are often used for furniture, lumber, cabinets and many other household items. Pulpwood comes from trees smaller than 12”, but bigger than 4”. Often times though, loggers will cut large trees down for the sawlogs in the bole, but not make use of the smaller tops. While these tops can serve a purpose laying on the forest floor and decomposing back into the soil, I believe there are other uses for these tops.
Woody biomass is becoming a popular topic in the forestry world, and whether or not it is a feasible option. Well, since the logger already cut down that large tree and took what he wanted for sawlog and pulp wood, that very top piece would make for a great option to use as woody biomass since it serves no other marketable purpose. Now I’m not saying we should go in and hack all the small trees and use them for woody biomass, as the price for it will never match what you could get for sawlogs or veneer timber; plus that would not be healthy for a forest anyways. On the other hand, there are some small diameter species that cover a lot of land and serve a very minimal purpose, for example: Tag Alder. Tag Alder is that nasty, small-tree, dense thicket you see growing in marshy areas and along creek banks. As of right now, Tag Alder has no market value, and is taking up land that could be planted to actual trees. Here is another place where woody biomass could be a good option. The alder is small enough that you can basically mow over it with a piece of equipment and come around and bail it up and be ready to take it to a biomass plant.
Forming a market for smaller diameter trees and the tops of large trees will increase the utilization for wood and also make harvesting stands more cost-effective. Woody biomass is just one option for better improving utilization of our forest products, but many more are out there.
