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The social and economic benefits of wood harvest from forests depend on the demand for different ecosystem services, including products desired from trees. Although uses of species such as Douglas-fir and western hemlock for finished lumber, plywood, and paper have dominated past demand in moist coniferous forests of the Pacific Northwest, the emergence of new uses and technologies has expanded opportunities for wood utilization. This changes what, when, and how wood is harvested from the forest and how different management activities may intersect with restoration targets and ecosystem services—some of which are only just emerging.

This paper summarizes the results of an update to a resource assessment, published in 2005, commonly referred to as the Billion-Ton Study (BTS). The updated results are consistent with the 2005 BTS in terms of overall magnitude. The 2005 BTS projected between 860 and 1240 Tg of biomass available in the 2050 timeframe, while the Billion-Ton Update (BT2), for a price of 66 $ Mg−1, projected between 994 and 1483 Tg in 2030. For the BT2, forest residue biomass potential was determined to be less owing to tighter restrictions on forest residue supply including restrictions due to limited projected increase in traditional harvest for pulpwood and sawlogs. Crop residue potential was also determined to be less because of the consideration of soil carbon and not allowing residue removal from conventionally tilled corn acres. Energy crop potential was estimated to be much greater largely because of land availability and modeling of competition among various competing uses of the land. Generally, the scenario assumptions in the updated assessment are much more plausible to show a “billion-ton” resource, which would be sufficient to displace 30% or more of the country's present petroleum consumption and provide more than enough biomass to meet the 2022 requirements of the Renewable Fuel Standard.

Use of wood biomass for energy results in carbon (C) emissions at the time of burning and alters C stocks on the land because of harvest, regrowth, and changes in land use or management. This study evaluates the potential effects of expanded woody biomass energy use (for heat and power) on net C emissions over time. A scenario with increased wood energy use is compared with a dynamic business-as-usual scenario where wood energy use is driven by its historical relationship with gross domestic product. At the national level, we projected that up to 78% of increased cumulative C emissions from increased wood burning and up to 80% of increased cumulative radiative forcing would be offset over 50 years by change in forest area loss, biomass regrowth on land, C storage in harvested wood products, and C in logging slash left in forests. For example, forest area is projected to decline in both scenarios, but 3.5 million hectares more are retained in the high wood energy-use case. Projected C offsets over a 50 year period differed substantially by US region (16% in the North, 50% in the West, and 95% in the South) not only because of differences in forest regrowth and induced investment in retaining and planting forest, but also because of shifts in competitive advantage among regions in producing various wood products. If wood systems displace coal systems that have 75% of the C emissions of wood energy systems per unit energy, then the nationwide net C emissions offset would be reduced to 71–74%. If displacing natural gas systems that have 40% of the level of wood bioenergy emissions per unit energy, the nationwide net C emissions offset would be 46–52%.

Past studies have established measures of co-firing potential at varying spatial scales to assess opportunities for renewable energy generation from woody biomass. This study estimated physical availability, within ecological and public policy constraints, and associated harvesting and delivery costs of woody biomass for co-firing in selected power plants of the Northern U.S. Procurement regimes were assessed for direct sources of woody biomass from timberland including logging residues (slash, by-products), small-diameter trees, and integrated harvest (logging residues and small-diameter trees). Concentric woody biomass procurement areas were estimated for each power plant using county-level estimates and varying procurement radii. Delivered fuel cost estimates were calculated for each power plant and procurement regime based on incremental maximum transport distances. Procurement regimes focused on small-diameter trees can potentially produce the most electric power, but are constrained by lower economical transport distances than logging residues. These estimates enabled us to assess which power plants in the Northern U.S. had the highest electricity generation potential. For most procurement regimes, an average power plant co-firing had the potential to replace greater than 30% of coal electricity generation if there was no competition for the feedstock. However, woody biomass resource competition from adjacent co-firing plants could reduce this generation potential to less than 10%.

Substantial knowledge has been generated in the U.S. about the resource base for forest- and other residue-derived biomass for bioenergy including co-firing in power plants. However, a lack of understanding regarding power plant-level operations and manager perceptions of drivers of biomass co-firing remains. This study gathered information from U.S. power plant managers to identify drivers behind co-firing, determine key conditions influencing past and current use, and explore future prospects for biomass in co-firing. Most of the biomass used in co-firing was woody biomass procured within 100 km of a power plant. Results show that the most influential co-firing drivers included: adequate biomass supply, competitive cost of biomass compared to fossil fuels, and costs of biomass transport. Environmental regulations were generally considered second-most influential in decisions to test or co-fire with biomass, but were of high importance to managers of plants that are currently not co-firing but may in the future.

This study evaluated the potential effectiveness of future carbon reserve scenarios, where U.S. forest landowners would hypothetically be paid to sequester carbon on their timberland and forego timber harvests for 100 years. Scenarios featured direct payments to landowners of $0 (baseline), $5, $10, or $15 per metric ton of additional forest carbon sequestered on the set aside lands, with maximum annual expenditures of $3 billion. Results indicated that from 1513 to 6837 Tg (Teragrams) of additional carbon (as carbon dioxide equivalent, CO2e) would be sequestered on U.S. timberlands relative to the baseline case over the next 50 years (30–137 Tg CO2e annually). These projected amounts of sequestered carbon on timberlands take into account projected increases in timber removal and forest carbon losses on other timberlands (carbon leakage effects). Net effectiveness of carbon reserve scenarios in terms of overall net gain in timberland carbon stocks from 2010 to 2060 ranged from 0.29 tCO2e net carbon increase for a payment of $5/tCO2e to the landowner (71% leakage), to 0.15 tCO2e net carbon increase for a payment of $15/tCO2e to the landowner (85% leakage). A policy or program to buy carbon credits from landowners would need to discount additions to the carbon reserve by the estimated amount of leakage. In the scenarios evaluated, the timber set-asides reduced timberland area available for harvest up to 35% and available timber inventory up to 55%, relative to the baseline scenario over the next 50 years, resulting in projected changes in timber prices, harvest levels, and forest product revenues for the forest products sector.

Production of renewable energy from biomass has been promoted as means to improve greenhouse gas balance in energy production, improve energy security, and provide jobs and income. However, uncertainties remain as to how the agriculture and forest sectors might jointly respond to increased demand for bioelectricity feedstocks and the potential environmental consequences of increased biomass production. We use an economic model to examine how the agriculture and forest sectors might combine to respond to increased demands for bioelectricity under simulated future national-level renewable electricity standards. Both sectors are projected to contribute biomass, although energy crops, like switchgrass, produced on agriculture land are projected to be the primary feedstocks. At the highest targets for bioelectricity production, we project increased conversion of forest to agriculture land in support of agriculture biomass production. Although land conversion takes place in response to renewable electricity mandates, we project only minor increases in forest and agriculture emissions. Similarly, crop prices were projected to generally be stable in the face of increased bioelectricity demand and displacement of traditional agriculture crops.

Whereas climate change mitigation involving payments to forest landowners for accumulating carbon on their land may increase carbon stored in forests, it will also affect timber supply and prices. This study estimated the effect on US timber and primary forest product markets of hypothetical timber set-aside scenarios where US forest landowners would be paid to forego timber harvests for 100 years to increase carbon storage on US timberland. The scenarios featured payments to landowners of $0 (business-as-usual (BAU)), $10, and $15 per each additional metric ton (t) of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) sequestered on the set-aside timberlands, with maximum annual expenditures of $3 billion. For the set-aside scenarios, reduction in timberland available for harvest resulted in increased timber prices and changes in US domestic production, consumption, net export, and timber market welfare. Economic analyses indicated that the scenario with more area set aside and the largest carbon mitigation benefit (lower carbon price, $10/t CO2e) would result in the largest decrease in market welfare, suggesting that climate change mitigation policies and programs would need to consider such impacts when evaluating the costs and benefits of climate change mitigation strategies in the forest sector.

Nationwide, county-level supply curves have been estimated for forest-based biomass to evaluate their potential contributions to producing biofuels. This study builds on the estimates of potential supply in the Billion Ton Supply study prepared by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Energy. Forest biomass sources include logging residue, thinnings, other removals, unused mill residue, urban wood waste, and conventionally sourced wood (pulpwood size material). To make the estimates, we assume that lower cost forest biomass will be supplied from integrated harvesting operations that also remove sawlogs and pulpwood. We also assume that such removals can be estimated at the county level in two ways: first, as a portion of recent estimates of logging residues; and second, by simulated thinning operations that use tops, branches, and small trees for biomass. Supply from thinning dense forest stands is assumed to occur over 30 yr. Harvest and stumpage costs are estimated for each of th...

(CLCA) energy demand forest economics industrial ecology partial equilibrium modeling Supplementary material is available on the JIE Web site Summary Consequential life cycle assessment (CLCA) has emerged as a tool for estimating environmental impacts of changes in product systems that go beyond physical relationships accounted for in attributional LCA (ALCA). This study builds on recent efforts to use more complex economic models for policy-based CLCA. A partial market equilibrium (PME) model, called the U.S. Forest Products Module (USFPM), is combined with LCA to analyze an energy demand scenario in which wood use increases 400 million cubic meters in the United States for ethanol production. Several types of indirect economic and environmental impacts are identified and estimated using USFPM-LCA. A key finding is that if wood use for biofuels increases to high levels and mill residue is used for biofuels and replaced by natural gas for heat and power in forest products mills, then the increased greenhouse gas emissions from natural gas could offset reductions obtained by substituting biofuels for gasoline. Such high levels of biofuel demand, however, appear to have relatively low environmental impacts across related forest product sectors.

Forests are significant stores of carbon (C). This has been recognised by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and forests are one of the sectors which are included in national greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories. Some of this C pool remains in wood after harvest and can remain in use for long periods of time. Accounting for the C stored in harvested wood products (HWP) can potentially contribute to GHG mitigation. A model was developed for this research to estimate C stocks and flows in HWP in Ireland for the years 1961e2009. The change in carbon stocks in HWP were estimated on an annual basis and shown to increase between 1961 and 2009. This increase in annual net additions to C stocks is the result of an increase in domestic harvest (and the resulting inflow into HWP pool) and an increase in HWP going to end uses with longer half-lives. This model (using a Tier II method) is an improvement to previous national estimates (using the Tier I method). Uncertainty was reduced by utilizing national data. This work shows that HWP has considerable potential to support GHG mitigation in Ireland. Inclusion of HWP in Ireland’s National Inventory Report (NIR) would give a more comprehensive picture of how the Irish forest sector is mitigating GHG emissions. This model will be incorporated into CARBWARE (Black 2008), the model used to estimate C stored in each of the 5 forest pools, of current and future Irish forests.

This study provides a modeling framework to examine change over time in U.S. forest sector carbon inventory (in U.S. timberland tree biomass and harvested wood products) for alternative projections of U.S. and global timber markets, including wood energy consumption, based on established IPCC/RPA scenarios. Results indicated that the U.S. forest sector's projected capacities for carbon sequestration could be notably altered by use of forest resources for energy. A scenario with large expansion in U.S. wood energy consumption (16-fold increase by 2060) coupled with high global growth in gross domestic product would convert U.S. timberlands to a substantial carbon emission source by 2050, as timber growing stock inventories would be depleted because of increased biomass energy production. In contrast, the same high growth in the economy coupled with much smaller expansion of U.S. wood biomass energy consumption (less than two-fold increase by 2060) would result in a projected increase in average annual additions to U.S. forest sector carbon by up to four-fold by 2060. Results also indicated that higher cumulative carbon emissions from increased use of wood for energy could be partially offset—over time—by increased forest plantations and more intensive forest management that could be stimulated by the increased use of wood for energy. The modeling framework will enable future use of the USFPM/GFPM market modeling system to evaluate the impacts of forest carbon offset policies on forest carbon and forest products markets, by allowing carbon offset payments to compete in the model with forest products or wood energy for the control and use of available timber resources.

The different uses of wood result in a hierarchy of carbon and energy impacts that can be characterized by their efficiency in displacing carbon emissions and/or in displacing fossil energy imports, both being current national objectives. When waste wood is used for biofuels (forest or mill residuals and thinnings) fossil fuels and their emissions are reduced without significant land use changes. Short rotation woody crops can increase yields and management efficiencies by using currently underused land. Wood products and biofuels are coproducts of sustainable forest management, along with the other values forests provide, such as clean air, water, and habitat. Producing multiple coproducts with different uses that result in different values complicates carbon mitigation accounting. It is important to understand how the life-cycle implications of managing our forests and using the wood coming from our forests impacts national energy and carbon emission objectives and other forest values. A series of articles published in this issue of the Forest Products Journal reports on the life-cycle implications of producing ethanol by gasification or fermentation and producing bio-oil by pyrolysis and feedstock collection from forest residuals, thinnings, and short rotation woody crops. These are evaluated and compared with other forest product uses. Background information is provided on existing life-cycle data and methods to evaluate prospective new processes and wood uses. Alternative management, processing, and collection methods are evaluated for their different efficiencies in contributing to national objectives.

Agricultural expansion and deforestation contribute to approximately 17% of global greenhouse-gas emissions. The fate of cleared wood and subsequent carbon storage as wood products, however, has not been consistently estimated. Now research fills this gap and shows that 30 years after forest clearance the percentage of carbon stored in wood products and landfills ranges from about 0% to 62% globally.

A U.S. forest sector market module was developed within the general Global Forest Products Model. The U.S. module tracks regional timber markets, timber harvests by species group, and timber product outputs in greater detail than does the global model. This hybrid approach provides detailed regional market analysis for the United States although retaining the broader global market analysis. We describe how the U.S. Forest Products Module is structured within the global model and show projections based on Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change scenarios with long-range assumptions about economic activity, population growth, and wood energy demands. Results show that real prices for industrial roundwood would increase as a result of significant global expansion in wood energy demands. Expansion of global wood energy demands would influence the comparative economic advantages of U.S. versus foreign producers, with U.S. producers gaining some comparative advantages and increased net exports in scenarios where average foreign industrial roundwood prices are projected to increase more than in the United States. These results suggest that national wood energy policies should consider how the impacts of wood energy use on domestic forest product markets depend on trends in global forest product markets. Le module du secteur forestier aux Etats-Unis (USFPM) a eteelaborea partir du modele mondial du secteur forestier (GFPM–Global Forest Products Model). Le USFPM permet de suivre l’evolution des marches regionaux du bois d’œuvre, des recoltes de bois d’œuvre par groupe deessences et des produits derives de fa con plus detaillee que le modele mondial. Ce modele hybride offre une analyse detaillee des marches regionaux aux Etats-Unis tout en conservant une analyse generale du marche mondial. Dans le present article, nous decrivons la structure du module du secteur forestier aux Etats-Unis par rapport au modele mondial du secteur forestier et presentons des previsions formulees d’apres des scenarios elabores par le Groupe d’experts intergouvernemental sur levolution du climat (GIEC) et renfermant des hypotheses long terme sur l’activiteeconomique, la croissance de la population et la demande de bois energie. Nos resultats indiquent que les prix reels du bois rond industriel risquent d’augmenter en raison de la croissance substantielle de la demande mondiale de bois energie. Cette croissance aurait des repercussions sur les avantages comparatifs des producteurs americains par rapport aux producteurs etrangers, mais les producteurs americains obtiendraient certains avantages comparatifs et une hausse des exportations nettes dans les scenarios ou les prix moyens du bois rond industriel etranger augmenteraient par rapport aux prix observes aux Etats-Unis. Ces resultats autorisent ȧ penser que les politiques nationales en matiere de bois energie devraient examiner de quelle facon les tendances sur les marches forestiers mondiaux influencent l’utilisation du bois energie sur les marches forestiers interieurs.

The forest industry within the northern region of the U.S. has declined notably in employment, mill numbers, wood consumption, and forest harvests since 2000...a downturn exacerbated by the recession of 2007 to 2009. Longer term industrial decline (since 2000) has been evidenced by reductions in secondary products (e.g., furniture) and print paper manufacturing which can be attributed, respectively, to the lack of global competitiveness due to high U.S. wages and ascent of electronic media. In contrast, shorter term (since 2008), yet sharper declines occurred in industries such as composite panel production that serve the housing industry. Despite a decade of decline, there are future opportunities for this region's forest industry. The region's forests are predominantly within private ownership and represent tremendous volumes of some of the world's most valuable sawtimber (e.g., select hardwoods). Coupled with this natural resource is a present, but underutilized industry with excess capacity and a skil...

In recent years, the forest products industry of the U.S. experienced a downturn in output to levels not seen in decades and employment losses in the hundreds of thousands — for instance, a number ...

Using forests to mitigate climate change has gained much interest in science and policy discussions. We examine the evidence for carbon benefits, environmental and monetary costs, risks and trade-offs for a variety of activities in three general strategies: (1) land use change to increase forest area (afforestation) and avoid deforestation; (2) carbon management in existing forests; and (3) the use of wood as biomass energy, in place of other building materials, or in wood products for carbon storage. We found that many strategies can increase forest sector carbon mitigation above the current 162-256 Tg C/yr, and that many strategies have co-benefits such as biodiversity, water, and economic opportunities. Each strategy also has trade-offs, risks, and uncertainties including possible leakage, permanence, disturbances, and climate change effects. Because approximately 60% of the carbon lost through deforestation and harvesting from 1700 to 1935 has not yet been recovered and because some strategies store carbon in forest products or use biomass energy, the biological potential for forest sector carbon mitigation is large. Several studies suggest that using these strategies could offset as much as 10-20% of current U.S. fossil fuel emissions. To obtain such large offsets in the United States would require a combination of afforesting up to one-third of cropland or pastureland, using the equivalent of about one-half of the gross annual forest growth for biomass energy, or implementing more intensive management to increase forest growth on one-third of forestland. Such large offsets would require substantial trade-offs, such as lower agricultural production and non-carbon ecosystem services from forests. The effectiveness of activities could be diluted by negative leakage effects and increasing disturbance regimes. Because forest carbon loss contributes to increasing climate risk and because climate change may impede regeneration following disturbance, avoiding deforestation and promoting regeneration after disturbance should receive high priority as policy considerations. Policies to encourage programs or projects that influence forest carbon sequestration and offset fossil fuel emissions should also consider major items such as leakage, the cyclical nature of forest growth and regrowth, and the extensive demand for and movement of forest products globally, and other greenhouse gas effects, such as methane and nitrous oxide emissions, and recognize other environmental benefits of forests, such as biodiversity, nutrient management, and watershed protection. Activities that contribute to helping forests adapt to the effects of climate change, and which also complement forest carbon storage strategies, would be prudent.

This paper describes an approach to modeling U.S. forest sector market and trade impacts of expansion in domestic wood energy consumption under hypothetical future U.S. wood biomass energy policy scenarios. The U.S. Forest Products Module (USFPM) was created to enhance the modeling of the U.S. forest sector within the Global Forest Products Model (GFPM), providing a more detailed representation of U.S. regional timber supply and wood residue markets. Scenarios were analyzed with USFPM/GFPM ranging from a baseline 48% increase to a 173% increase in annual U.S. consumption of wood for energy from 2006 to 2030, while consumption of fuelwood in other countries was assumed to increase by around 65% in aggregate. Results indicate that expansion in wood energy consumption across the range of scenarios may have little impact on U.S. forest sector markets because most of the expansion can be supplied by logging residues that are presently not being utilized and also mill residues that will increase in supply with projected expansion in wood product output in the decades ahead. However, analysis also suggests that forest sector markets could be disrupted by expansion in wood energy if much higher levels of wood energy consumption occur, or if projected recovery in housing demand and wood product output does not occur, or if more restrictive constraints or higher costs are imposed on wood residue utilization.

A greenhouse gas and carbon accounting profile was developed for the U.S. forest products industry value chain for 1990 and 2004−2005 by examining net atmospheric fluxes of CO2 and other greenhouse gases (GHGs) using a variety of methods and data sources. Major GHG emission sources include direct and indirect (from purchased electricity generation) emissions from manufacturing and methane emissions from landfilled products. Forest carbon stocks in forests supplying wood to the industry were found to be stable or increasing. Increases in the annual amounts of carbon removed from the atmosphere and stored in forest products offset about half of the total value chain emissions. Overall net transfers to the atmosphere totaled 91.8 and 103.5 TgCO2-eq. in 1990 and 2005, respectively, although the difference between these net transfers may not be statistically significant. Net transfers were higher in 2005 primarily because additions to carbon stored in forest products were less in 2005. Over this same period, energy-related manufacturing emissions decreased by almost 9% even though forest products output increased by approximately 15%. Several types of avoided emissions were considered separately and were collectively found to be notable relative to net emissions., Life cycle concepts are used to characterize the net impact of the U.S. forest products sector on atmospheric greenhouse gases.

The Lake States region of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan offers significant potential for bioenergy production. We examine the sustainability of regional forest biomass use in the context of existing thermal heating, electricity, and biofuels production, projected resource needs over the next decade including existing forest product market demand, and impacts on price and feasibility. Assuming $36 per dry tonne at roadside, 4.1 million dry tonnes of forest biomass could be available region-wide. However, less is likely available due to localized environmental and forest cover type constraints, and landowner willingness to harvest timber. Total projected demand of 5.7 million dry tonnes, based on current and announced industry capacity, exceeds estimates of biomass availability, which suggests that anticipated growth in the forest-based bioeconomy may be constrained. Attaining projected demand will likely require a combination of higher cost feedstocks, integration of energy and non-energy uses, and careful management to meet environmental constraints. State distinctions in biomass harvest guidelines and the propensity for third-party forest certification will be critical in providing environmental safeguards. The cumulative effect of policy initiatives on biomass competition are discussed in the context of an emerging Lake States bioeconomy.

This paper addresses the economics of forest fuel thinning programs on federal lands in the U.S. West, and presents a model of regional timber and product market impacts. The issue of economics is vital to the debate about fire management, and this paper presents market implications of two alternative silvicultural strategies, even-aged and uneven-aged thinning. Projections are based on are regional market model called FTM—West (Fuel Treatment Market model—West), which uses the method of price-endogenous linear programming to project annual market equilibria for softwood timber and wood products in the western United States from1997 to 2020. The model takes into account variability in tree and log size, as well as economic effects of variable size class on harvest costs, log value, product recovery and mill capacity. Results show large potential market impacts from expanded thinning on federal lands, but impacts vary by silvicultural regime due to differences in size–class distributions of trees available under different thinning regimes. A hypothetical even-aged thinning program (“thin-from-below” strategy) results in net negative market welfare over the projection period (2005–2020), while a hypothetical uneven-aged thinning program (thinning based on stand density index) results in positive net market welfare. Net welfare results are the same over a range of different subsidy and administrative fee assumptions. An implication is that even-aged thinning regimes on federal lands in the U.S. West are less economical and therefore will be less effective.

We previously identified desirable properties for wood based on current market-based trends for commercial uses (Wegner et al. 2010). World business models increasingly incorporate the concept of social responsibility and the tenets of sustainable development. Sustainable development is needed to support an estimated 9 billion people by 2050 within the carrying capacities of the Earth. The supply of raw materials for the array of products we know today will be insufficient, and we will need to sustainably use forest-based resources as major sources of materials. For example, increasing demand for higher quality food will require enhanced packaging performance to minimize loss in shipping.

Four research-based insights are essential to understanding forest bioenergy and “carbon debts.” (1) As long as wood-producing land remains in forest, long-lived wood products and forest bioenergy reduce fossil fuel use and long-term carbon emission impacts. (2) Increased demand for wood can trigger investments that increase forest area and forest productivity and reduce carbon impacts associated with increased harvesting. (3) The carbon debt concept emphasizes short-term concerns about biogenic CO2 emissions, although it is long-term cumulative CO2 emissions that are correlated with projected peak global temperature, and these cumulative emissions are reduced by substituting forest bioenergy for fossil fuels. (4) Considering forest growth, investment responses, and the radiative forcing of biogenic CO2 over a 100-year time horizon (as used for other greenhouse gases), the increased use of forest-derived materials most likely to be used for bioenergy in the United States results in low net greenhouse gas emissions, especially compared with those for fossil fuels.

Large quantities of forest products are disposed of in landfills annually. The fate of this vast pool of carbon is important since carbon sequestration and the generation of landfill gases have important implications for global warming. Published estimates of methane yields were used to estimate the amount of carbon released into the atmosphere from landfilled forest products. These calculations suggest that maximally only 30% of the carbon from paper and 0–3% of the carbon from wood are ever emitted as landfill gas. The remaining carbon, approximately 28 Tg in 1993, remains in the landfill indefinitely. Some of this carbon may be removed during leachate treatment, but a large portion is permanently sequestered where its impact on global warming is negligible. The placement of forest products in landfills serves as a significant carbon sink, and its importance in the global carbon balance should not be overlooked.

Storing carbon (C) and offsetting carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions with the use of wood for energy, both of which slow emissions of CO2 into the atmosphere, present significant challenges for forest management (IPCC 2001).

Forest biomass feedstocks have the potential to contribute significantly to bioenergy production in the United States. The forestry sector has adopted guidelines and certification systems for forest products such as lumber and paper produced from sustainable forestry. This chapter discusses the extension of these concepts to bioenergy from forests along with proposed sustainability measures, renewable biomass definitions, and how these may influence woody biomass supplied to integrated biorefineries.

This paper describes a set of empirical net forest growth models based on forest growing-stock density relationships for three U.S. regions (North, South, and West) and two species groups (softwoods and hardwoods) at the regional aggregate level. The growth models accurately predict historical U.S. timber inventory trends when we incorporate historical timber harvests. The models also project future timber inventory trends when linked to a model of regional timber harvest, forest product markets, and trade, specifically the U.S. Forest Products Module (USFPM) within the Global Forest Products Model (GFPM). The market model also takes into account the timber supply and market impacts of projected trends in U.S. timber inventory, and results show the sensitivity of U.S. regional timber inventory projections to alternative timber market scenarios. Given the parsimonious nature of the model and its simplicity, the developed net forest growth models can be very useful in providing projections of growing-stock inventory trends across U.S. regions and species groups for alternative U.S. and global timber market scenarios.

Transfer of technologies produced by research is critical to innovation within all organizations. The intent of this paper is to take stock of the conceptual underpinnings of technology transfer processes as they relate to wood utilization research and to identify conditions that promote the successful transfer of research results. Conceptually, research utilization can be viewed from multiple perspectives, including the haphazard diffusion of knowledge in response to vague and imprecise demands for information, scanning of multiple information sources by individuals and organizations searching for useful scientific knowledge, engagement of third parties to organize research results and communicate them to potential users, and ongoing and active collaboration between researchers and potential users of research. Empirical evidence suggests that various types of programs can promote technology transfer (venture capital, angel investors, business incubators, extension services, tax incentives, and in-house entities), the fundamental effectiveness of which depends on research results that are scientifically valid and consistent with the information needs of potential users. Furthermore, evidence suggests preference toward programs that are appropriately organized and governed, suitably led and creatively administered, and periodically evaluated in accordance with clear standards of success.

We used the Economics of Biomass Removals model to evaluate the required treatment acreages, volumes removed, treatment costs and product revenues from national forest and other ownerships. We used three distinct treatment prescriptions to achieve two hazard reduction goals for treatable timberlands in the Western United States. The two hazard reduction goals were to maintain current hazard levels over 10 years, and to reduce hazard levels by 20 percent over 10 years. We also simulated one treatment prescription on national forest timberland only in order to evaluate the effect of requiring a minimum level of treatment in each State. These simulations show that costs and revenues differ by intensity of the hazard reduction goal and by treatment prescription. They show that uneven-aged treatment prescriptions tend to be more expensive than thin-from-below prescriptions for accomplishing hazard reduction goals. Uneven-aged prescriptions, however, yield greater timber product volumes and values for landowners, offsetting the higher costs. On the other hand, in situations without wood product markets, thin-from-below prescriptions could be a better option because of the lower net costs.

Improving efficiency in the use of both wood and nonwood inputs has characterized the US forest sector over the last 50 years. This chapter explores methods used to reflect this pattern of technological change and others in the Timber Assessment Projection System models. The development and use of three types of technology projection methods are explained: (1) decomposition of tech- nology into several processes and projection of future mixes of processes to make exogenous projections of technology change for harvesting costs and for solidwood products recovery and processing costs in TAMM; (2) activity analysis that uses alternate technologies capable of changing fiber input mixes to make endogenous projections of technology change for pulp, paper, and paperboard production in NAPAP; and (3) innovation diffusion modeling to endogenously project the change in wood-use rates in major end uses such as housing in TAMM. We provide an example of a sensitivity testing in a case where technology projections were made exogenously. Finally we discuss lessons learned and points to consider when decid- ing the type of technology projection methods to use.

This study presents techniques for calculating average net annual additions to carbon in forests and in forest products. Forest ecosystem carbon yield tables, representing stand-level merchantable volume and carbon pools as a function of stand age, were developed for 51 forest types within 10 regions of the United States. Separate tables were developed for afforestation and reforestation. Because carbon continues to be sequestered in harvested wood, approaches to calculate carbon sequestered in harvested forest products are included. Although these calculations are simple and inexpensive to use, the uncertainty of results obtained by using representative average values may be high relative to other techniques that use site- or project-specific data. The estimates and methods in this report are consistent with guidelines being updated for the U.S. Voluntary Reporting of Greenhouse Gases Program and with guidelines developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The CD-ROM included with this publication contains a complete set of tables in spreadsheet format.

Several analyses have shown that fire hazard is a concern for substantial areas of forestland, shrubland, grassland, and range in the western United States. In response, broadscale management strategies, such as the National Fire Plan, established actions to reduce the threat of undesirable fire. Available budgets are insufficient to pay for vegetative management on all acres where fire threat is considered unacceptable. The purpose of this report is to begin to identify locations in the west where fire hazard reduction treatments have a potential to “pay for themselves” at a scale and over a long enough time to make investment in additional forest product processing infrastructure a realistic option. The resulting revenues from these activities could presumably subsidize treatment for other locations. Accordingly, we concentrate on areas where wood removed during fire hazard reduction treatments has the potential to support a forest products infrastructure. Areas for treatment were selected by the criterion where either torching or crowning is likely during wildfires when wind speeds are below 25 mph. We considered thinning treatments designed to result in either evenaged or uneven-aged stand conditions. If there are ecological limitations on basal area that is allowed to be removed and there is a need to obtain a certain amount of merchantable wood volume to help cover costs, then uneven-aged treatments appear more likely to achieve one of our hazard reduction targets. Thinning to maintain an uneven-aged structure could be more controversial because it removes larger trees, although the revenue from such treatment covers harvest costs more frequently than does revenue from thinning to maintain an even-aged structure. The removal of large trees by uneven-aged thinning may be reduced by supplementary treatments to increase torching index rather than thinning to reach a high crowning index. Treatments analyzed would treat 7.2 to 18.0 million acres, including 0.8 to 1.2 million acres of wildland urban interface area, and would provide 169 to 640 million oven-dry tons of woody biomass (e.g., main stem, tops, and limbs). About 55% of biomass would be from sawlogs. Sixty to 70% of acres to be treated are in California, Idaho, and Montana. To prepare an example estimate of annual harvest amount for the 12 selected western states, we assume acres needing treatment are divided into two parts of equal area. For half the acres, an uneven-aged treatment would be applied if at least 300 ft3 of merchantable wood is removed; for the other half, an even-aged treatment would be applied if at least 300 ft3 of merchantable wood is removed. Under this scenario, treatment of 0.5 million acres/year would generate 14.6 million oven-dry tons of biomass per year or about 29% of the current level of roundwood removals for the selected states.

Acknowledgments Small-scale gasification plants that generate electrical energy from forest health thinnings may have the potential to deliver substantial amounts of electricity to the national grid. We evaluated the economic feasibility of two sizes of BioMax, a generator manufactured by the Community Power Corporation of Littleton, Colorado. At current avoided-cost electricity prices in Oregon, it would not be economical to operate a small-scale (1 00-kW) BioMax without a subsidy or tax credit, even if fuel were delivered to the plant at a forest landing at no cost. Given a tax credit, a 1,000-kW system could be operated profitably. If it were possible to sell merchantable logs (removed as part of forest health treatments) for an average of $175/thousand board feet, most acres on gentle slopes in southern Oregon would provide net operating surpluses. Most steeply sloped acres would generate operating deficits. If merchantable timber were sold separately, biomass from forest health thinnings on timberland in 15 western states could potentially provide from 2.3 to 14.3 billion kwh of electricity to the national grid. Our results suggest that if a forest landing is located near an existing power line, distributed energy generation is an option that may be worth considering.