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.
3 comments:
I may not be into forestry WHATSOEVER, but even I can see the arguments of utilizing what is typically seen as waste more effectively. Especially when it comes to something like trees, leaving pieces lying around that could have ANY theoretical use seems below our means at this point. If the biomass from treetops could be used to lessen our dependance on other plant or tree resources, I would advocate it for sure. Some entrepreneur with a knowledge of forestry should tackle that issue, I'm sure there are useful products that could come from their efforts.
Being a soils major I first think of what implications it has on the soil when I read your topic. While I agree with your message to develop uses for otherwise unusable material left by the harvesting process of timber and woody vegetation, Im not sure if I agree with all of your thoughts. So what it sounds like to me that after a harvest, the plan would be to collect all that material or biomass and utilize it else where for and economical benefit. Isnt it a forest management practice to leave a certain amount of biomass to either reseed or for that biomass to return back to the soil. From an erosion standpoint, it sound almost like your creating a bare spot to take away that organic and nutrient rich forest top soil. Then I just really don't know how necessary it is to then seek out other small woody vegetation for this sole purpose. And removing those nasty tag alders sounds like an almost terrible plan where much of them are found near and in wetlands and streams and contribute to stream ecology and the riparian habitat. If you want a good woody plant for biomass go seek out buck thorn. There is plenty of it and its not native. Id say that would be a great way to obtain biomass for utilization. Isn't there plenty of biomass from the milling of sawtimber and pulpwood mills to satisfy this need. I guess you could remove alot of the remains of the harvest from the land but leaving a satisfactory amount to go back to the land also.
Well, I think there could be a place for this but not sure if attacking and seeking woody biomass is the answer. At least not until there is a definite and ground breaking discovery for a beneficial and acceptable use.
I wonder how many hunters would react to tag-alders being nasty and no good. :) Do you know whether the biomass burning plan at UWSP ever progressed?
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