treesource

Forest Journalism for a Sustainable Future

Burning question: Is woody biomass the 21st century fuel?

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Processors thin small-diameter pine on the Malheur National Forest. Photo: Marcus Kauffman

For hundreds of millennia, humans have depended on wood as a basic but reliable source of fuel. Today efforts to grow that dependence in the face of an evolving energy landscape are widespread. But they’re also contentious.

The debate over biomass, an umbrella term that encompasses a range of organic materials used for energy, rests primarily on the question of “carbon neutrality.” It’s taking place at the federal level — the House Appropriations Committee voted during the summer to designate biomass “carbon neutral” — and across the states.

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker announced in August that his administration would move to designate fuel derived from felling trees and clearing brush in forests as renewable energy. In Arizona the state’s Public Service recently ordered to research forest bioenergy as part of its power portfolio. The biomass industry’s main trade group is part of a just-hatched PR and advertising blitz planned for later in September by an umbrella renewable-energy consortium that also includes wind and solar and has dubbed itself National Clean Energy Week. [Read more…]

Pacific Northwest: Study touts jobs growth tied to cross-laminated timber

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The next few years will be pivotal for SmartLam and other CLT producers. Photo courtesy of SmartLam.

The production of cross-laminated timber, or CLT, has the potential to create significant job growth in the Pacific Northwest, according to a study published in July 2017 by Oregon BEST, a Portland-based nonprofit.

CLT is made of layers of glued 2-inch-thick dimensional wood crossing over each other at a 90-degree angle, creating a strong panel that can be used in tall buildings.

The 110-page study, “Advanced Wood Product Manufacturing Study for Cross-Laminated Timber Acceleration in Oregon and SW Washington,” was funded by $120,000 from the U.S. Economic Development Administration. [Read more…]

The state of U.S. forests: You’ll be surprised by the answers to these 6 questions

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1. How forested is the United States? Here’s a surprising fact about our increasingly urbanized nation: About one-third of it is forested. Forests have an enormous impact on our water resources, economy, wildlife, recreational activities and cultural fabric. They also are major economic assets: The forest products industry manufactures more than US$200 billion worth of products yearly, and is one of the top 10 manufacturing employers in 47 states.

2. Who owns U.S forests? About 58 percent of the nation’s forestland is privately owned, mostly by families and other individuals. The public owns the rest. About three-quarters of the public forestland is owned by the federal government, mostly in national forests, with the rest controlled by states, counties and local governments. Forests in the eastern United States are mostly private; in the West, they are mostly public. [Read more…]

Witness trees stand sentinel over America’s hallowed places

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The Oklahoma City Survivor Tree Photo: Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum

A witness tree begins its life like any other tree. It sprouts. It grows. And then it’s thrust into the spotlight, playing an involuntary part in a significant historic event. Often, that event is a devastating, landscape-scarring battle or other tragic moment. Once Civil War soldiers march on to their next battle, say, or a country turns its attention to healing after a terrorist attack, a witness tree remains as a biologically tenacious symbol of the past.

Witness trees have been known to hide bullets they’ve absorbed beneath new layers of wood and bark, and they heal other visible scars over time. While they may look like ordinary trees, they have incredible stories to tell. [Read more…]

With climate change comes new realities for forests, wildlife and humans

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Because of their unique color phases, snowshoe hares are particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Photo: National Park Service

Editor’s note: This article is the second in a two-part series focused on forests and climate change. The first article discussed how forests interact with carbon – primarily as sources and sinks for atmospheric carbon. This article discusses just a few of the myriad ways that forest ecosystems – trees, wildlife and the ecosystem services that forests regulate – are impacted by climate change.

Scott Mills reaches across the table and grabs a salt shaker in one hand and a pepper shaker in the other. The salt represents a snowshoe hare in its winter coat, the pepper that same hare in its summer coat. He moves the shakers around the table, a bit of drama to underscore his point.

Mills, a wildlife biology professor at the University of Montana has studied snowshoe hares and climate change for the past two decades and finds the intersection of if and how animals can adapt to our changing climate “totally fascinating.” [Read more…]