National Association of Conservation Districts

Forestry Notes

August 2008
Volume XVII, Issue 9

| PDF version | Archive of Previous Issues |

1. Got Extension?
2. Extension Forestry Innovation
3. Building New Bridges with Working Trees
4. AFF Searches for New President and CEO
5. Forest Briefs
6. SPECIAL INSERT: Woody Biomass and Districts—A Second Look

1. Got Extension?
Districts are finding a variety of reasons to connect with their extension forester
Eric Norland began his career as a county extension agent in north central Ohio in 1982, where he worked closely with conservation districts. For several years he taught courses and offered field days and admitted he would get as many requests to do programs from conservation districts as extension offices. Norland was happy to oblige.

Now the national program leader for forest resource management for the Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service (CSREES), Norland sees more opportunities than ever for landowners and extension offices across the country to work together.

“There is more work that needs to be done with landowners, and opportunities to work with landowners, than any one organization can do all by itself,” said Norland.

Still, Norland acknowledges extension and districts are not as well connected in some areas as they could be.

“In virtually every county or parish, there is both an extension and conservation district office,” said Norland. “The professionals in both of those offices know what the issues are on the ground, and both are equipped to deal with those issues in different, yet complementary ways.”

As an example, Norland highlighted the districts’ strength in providing on-the-ground technical assistance, and how that can be packaged with up-to-date research findings available through extension.

“There’s more that can be accomplished working together than working separately,” said Norland. “The bottom line should be serving the needs and interest of landowners and other user groups the best they can.”

Here are several examples from across the country showcasing how extension offices and districts have connected …

• In 2007, the University of Alaska-Fairbanks office provided a number of true fir species to the Upper Susitna Soil and Water Conservation District to be planted on land that they had available  for a study of potential Christmas tree species. According to Extension Specialist Bob Wheeler, “We have no existing commercial Christmas tree industry in Alaska and together we sought to establish a trial to evaluate the potential of these species currently finding success in the Pacific Northwest.” Wheeler conducted a similar test with the Kodiak Soil and Water Conservation District.
• In North Dakota, districts raise money each year through the sale of trees and shrubs. Each spring the North Dakota Forest Service and the North Dakota Conservation District Employees Association host a tree promotion meeting to train district personnel on how to properly manage various aspects of their tree-planting programs. At these meetings, North Dakota State University Extension Forestry Specialist Joe Zeleznik presented information on a number of topics, including tree biology, drought and weed control.
  Additionally, Zeleznik offers summer workshops on insect and disease identification and management. Said Zeleznik, “These workshops are directed towards the district employees and the county extension agents, since they're the people who are getting most of the phone calls on tree problems.” Zeleznik was also asked by the District Association to speak at a conference about the use of Russian-olive in conservation plantings, a very sensitive and controversial topic.
• As an extension forester for Washington State University, Kevin Zobrist works with Snohomish and Skagit counties in northwest Washington. “I have excellent relationships and cross-collaboration with the conservation districts in both counties and consider them to be two of my most important partners,” said Zobrist. Earlier this year he began working with the Skagit Conservation District on a needs assessment for small forest landowners in that county. The district provided financial assistance and its staff helped mail a survey that the University had written. “We included a joint cover letter emphasizing to recipients that this was a collaborative effort between extension and the conservation district,” said Zobrist. “The response rate was over 35 percent, which well-exceeded our expectations and gave us very robust and useful results that are being used to direct both our programs.”
• According to Mark Megalos, extension forestry specialist at North Carolina State University, his office works extensively with NRCS and soil and water conservation district employees on a number of important issues, including minority outreach and farm and forestland protection.
• The University of Minnesota Extension office offers three-hour long classes or tours for a variety of topics, including sessions on the emerald ash borer and an introduction to GPS. Said Mike Reichenbach, regional extension educator, “If it were not for the soil and water conservation districts working with a variety of partners in Minnesota I do not know how we could offer the 60-plus forestry education classes.” Those classes welcomed more than 900 attendees last year, and many of the sessions were co-sponsored by one of the state’s districts. “The districts provide a local contact with citizens,” said Reichenbach. “I provide content for classes that landowners are interested in attending.  As landowners apply what they have learned they are better prepared to adopt practices recommended through their SWCD.”
• For almost a decade, Don Carlson of Purdue University’s Forestry and Natural Resources Department has worked with the NRCS and soil and water conservation district offices in numerous counties to cooperatively support forestry or forestry and wildlife education programs and field days. Last year, thanks to the help of those partnerships, Purdue held two forestry and wildlife field days, a three-day forest education program, a wood quality program, a forest inventory program and a plantation day.

To contact a university natural resource extension specialist in your area, please visit http://www.csrees.usda.gov/nea/nre/pdfs/forest_directory.pdf.

2. Extension Forestry Innovation
By Fred Deneke
NACD Forestry Programs Coordinator

In my experience, university extension foresters have been innovators and leaders with education programs that benefit private landowners and conservation districts and ultimately the land and its resources. Examples that come to mind include the Coverts Project in the Northeast and Lake States to educate landowners on the importance of good forest management to improve ruffed grouse habitat; sustainable forestry education programs for forest landowners such as Master Woodland Owners and Master Woodland Stewards. 

These programs are built on the concept of educating forest landowners to become leaders and ultimately reaching out and influencing other landowners to become better stewards of their forest holdings. Extension also took the early lead in Master Logger training and certification programs so that loggers had a better understanding of silvicultural principles when working with forestry consultants and landowners on thinning and timber harvesting contracts. Other areas of Extension innovation include holding forest landowner education workshops in large cities to reach absentee owners, serving as a long-time leader in timber taxation workshops and informational material for the forest landowner, programs and material promoting the utilization of woody biomass, and the pioneering of uplink/downlink satellite technology to reach and educate thousands of landowners at the same time in communities across multiple counties, an entire state or multiple states.

At one point in his career, Fred worked as the National Program Leader for Extension Forestry Programs with what was then the USDA Extension Service (now known as CSREES).

3. Building New Bridges with Working Trees
By Rich Straight
U.S. Forest Service Lead Agroforester
National Agroforestry Center, Lincoln, NE

As conservationists we engage in planting trees, shrubs, and grasses to serve specific purposes. Agroforestry practices are an excellent example of planting the right tree in the right place for a purpose—Working Trees.

For example, windbreaks are established to control wind erosion, enhance crop production, or protect livestock from cold winter winds; riparian buffers protect water quality, provide wildlife habitat, and stabilize streambanks.

Until fairly recently community residents primarily viewed trees, shrubs and grass as ornamentation or a bit of backyard bird habitat to draw wildlife to the bird bath. But this attitude is changing rapidly. Cities are beginning to see urban trees and green spaces as providing services related to stormwater, economics, and social stability. Consequently, Working Trees can be a bridge for building coalitions and cooperation between rural and urban environmental and conservation organizations.

Similar to conservation program goals, city governments face regulatory requirements for air quality, stormwater runoff, and waste treatment. Regulations, however, aren’t quite as voluntary as our familiar programs. This means there is great incentive for cities to find effective, economical, and socially acceptable methods to reach attainment goals. Community planners and managers think in terms of infrastructure such as roads, water, gas, and electric lines, and parking lots as the framework that supports their community. Just as we depend on the gray infrastructure of our communities, so too, we need green infrastructure. Green infrastructure is the network of open space, woodland, wildlife habitat, parks, and natural features of the landscape that support healthy, functioning communities and landscapes. Its principles are very instructive when planning and designing Working Trees and other green spaces across rural urban transition zones.

Research confirms that the effectiveness of agroforestry and conservation practices increases when they are planned strategically rather than haphazardly. This is part of the focus of the USDA National Agroforestry Center’s (NAC’s) research efforts—not just how to design conservation buffers, but how to determine where to locate them on the landscape to get the most benefit, even multiple benefits.

Water quality and quantity issues are the most obvious issues for a rural/urban coalition to build upon. This leads us to consider riparian forest buffers as a familiar conservation technology that can create continuity within the rural/urban landscape. Even so, design specifics may be modified to accommodate urban site conditions. Working Tree practices can be adapted for urbanizing areas in advance of anticipated development to address the same rural issues of runoff, sedimentation, damaging winds, and wildlife habitat. The knowledge and experiences of conservation district professionals can be an asset for cities and communities as they design and establish modified agroforestry practices inside and outside of city boundaries.

But where to begin? Three distinct landscape areas can help focus initial cooperative efforts:

• Existing development areas includes those where redevelopment is occurring. This comes in the form of improving brownfields, tearing down dilapidated buildings, updating old stormwater pipes, or resurfacing parking lots. These are opportunities to change from the outdated gray way of doing things to a new green way of accomplishing the same, and more, goals. The need for change already exists, funds will be expended, and much of the upfront costs of removing the old system are in place. Now we can focus on how to develop differently.
• Future developments have the advantage of a clean slate. The opportunity exists to start with a better design, rather than place bandages on old and previously-constructed developments that may be inconsistent with a green infrastructure approach. Often green infrastructure is not only less expensive when planned for, but offers greater and additional services. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
• Addressing water quantity and quality issues upstream of communities can significantly reduce the cost and extent of redesign and new development infrastructure. Supporting upstream agroforestry and conservation practices can actually save communities money in their efforts to reach attainment goals.

When we begin to see conservation or land management at a landscape or watershed scale, rural and urban boundaries fade in significance. The focus instead becomes identifying where the critical locations for conservation are, regardless of land cover or current land use.

4. AFF Searches for New President and CEO
Larry Wiseman, president and chief executive officer of the American Forest Foundation (AFF) is stepping down from his post. A search for his successor is underway. This transition is the result of a succession plan set in place several years ago by Wiseman and the AFF Board of Trustees.

Wiseman plans to remain at AFF until the board elects his successor and the transition to new leadership is complete. Russell Reynolds, a New York based executive recruiting firm, is conducting the search.

“… AFF is poised to become an even more powerful voice for sustainable forestry, family stewardship, outreach, and education,” said Wiseman. “I can look forward to new challenges, knowing that AFF's programs and staff are stronger than ever.”

Wiseman joined AFF's predecessor organization, the American Forest Institute before AFF was created in 1981. At that time, AFF had a staff of six and its annual budget was less than $2 million. Since then, AFF has grown to 26 staff, its annual budget increased more than five-fold.

The American Forest Foundation is a non-profit conservation and education organization. The sponsoring organization for Tree Farm and Project Learning Tree, AFF strives to ensure the sustainability of America's family forests for present and future generations.

5. Forestry Briefs
EPA Gives New Hampshire Wood Energy Plant Clean Air Award
The Environmental Protection Agency presented a Clean Air Excellence Award in the 'Community Action' category to Public Service Company of New Hampshire's new Northern Wood Power Project. The PSNH project converted one of the boilers at Schiller Station in Portsmouth, N.H. to burn wood rather than coal two years ago.

The EPA cited the partnership between PSNH, the New Hampshire Timberland Owners Association, the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, New Hampshire Audubon and Office of the Governor that resulted in a successful clean air project. “The uniqueness of Northern Wood Power is that we tried something completely new and different and it was incredibly successful,” said John MacDonald, PSNH vice president for energy delivery and generation. “We could not have accomplished that without the support of our partners, and this award rightly recognizes that.”

Arizona Biomass Plant Using Material from Forest-thinning Efforts
Arizona's second and largest biomass plant began providing electricity to 9,000 homes this summer, generating electricity with material from forest-thinning efforts in the White Mountains and unusable, recycled paper fibers from a nearby paper mill. Officials say the plant will provide a stable source of electricity for communities that were dependent on power lines that are often compromised during Arizona's active wildfire season.

Desk Guides for Conservation Districts being Developed
Beginning in March, work began on three new desk guides to serve as how-to-do references for districts and their partners. All work is being conducted under a NACD/DOI/USFS Cooperative Agreement, and the desk guides are slated for completion by March, 2009. 

• The Woody Biomass Utilization Desk Guide is intended for use by conservation districts, RC&Ds, and county officials in providing leadership to communities in the utilization of woody biomass for energy and other purposes. An initial scoping meeting was held in Atlanta, Ga. in April. Participants included the University of Georgia, Debbie Moreland with the Arkansas Association of Conservation Districts, Ron Bell representing the Arkansas RC&Ds, and two Georgia county agents. A work agreement with the University of Georgia was signed in early July. 
• The Disaster Debris Desk Guide is intended for use by conservation districts, RC&Ds, and local officials so they are better prepared to address the removal and use of woody debris resulting from major wind disasters. A contract and work agreement with the Lower Coastal Mississippi RC&D was initiated in April to begin work on the desk guide. 
• The Community Wildfire Desk Guide and Toolkit are for use by conservation districts, RC&Ds, and county officials so they can provide leadership at the local level on community wildfire planning, protection, and recovery work. An advisory team meeting was held in Denver in July to develop a work implementation plan.

The Hidden Treasure Comic Available Free!
The Hidden Treasure comic book on woody biomass has been very popular.  Starting August 1, people can order copies of it for only the cost of shipping. Those interested may order the booklets in quantities of 200, 400, 500, 1,000 or 2,000. An invoice will be sent with the order for shipping. All invoices must be paid within 30 days of receipt of the booklets. To preview the booklet and download the order form, visit http://www.nacdnet.org/education/hiddentreasure. Educators can also see the correlations to the national standards at the site.

The Hidden Treasure helps children and parents understand the real worth of our valuable forest resources so their treasure can be fully revealed. The Hidden Treasure provides an engaging and educational story for children in late elementary to middle school to help them understand that forest renewal improves the health of forests and provides biomass for many productive uses and how wood biomass will play an important role in our nation's future, including energy security through the production of biofuels, biochemicals, and other sources of energy.

For more questions about the comic book, send an email to forestrynotes@email.nacdnet.org.

6. SPECIAL INSERT: Woody Biomass and Districts—A Second Look
2008 marks the fifth year that NACD has been collaborating through a formal cooperative agreement with the Department of the Interior (DOI) and the U.S. Forest Service (FS) on the utilization of excess woody biomass in our nation’s public and private forest lands. The goal of this partnership was to encourage engagement by conservation districts in efforts to reduce hazardous fuel accumulations, develop community wildfire protection plans, protect forest and watershed health, improve local or regional economies, enhance wildlife habitat, and increase forest esthetics. 

Conservation districts have an important role in achieving any and all of the above objectives as they are uniquely situated to help facilitate the education of county supervisors, city councils, homeowner associations, landowners, and local entrepreneurs about woody biomass utilization. Educational efforts can include  helping them to explore and understand just what is woody biomass, the various local sources, the myriad of potential uses and products, and conduct feasibility studies and public forums so that communities, entrepreneurs, and landowners understand not only the economic and ecological opportunities associated with using woody biomass but also any attendant barriers and limitations.

Over the past five years we have worked to incorporate background information, special inserts, and success stories about local conservation districts engaged in the utilization of woody biomass. These have been published in and with our popular Forestry Notes monthly newsletter. We have helped sponsor two national and three regional workshops on these topics. We produced “The Hidden Treasure,” a woody biomass booklet for K-12 students that introduces students to wood as an energy source. This past May we worked with our DOI and FS partners and provided scholarships for 27 people from 21 states to attend the 2008 SmallWood Conference in Madison, Wis. At present we are working with DOI and the FS to provide sponsorships for state or sub-state level woody biomass workshops by conservation districts, rural conservation and development districts, and local governments.

Last, but not least, in this culmination year of our work under a formal cooperative agreement with DOI and the FS in woody biomass utilization, we are working on developing a set of desk guides and toolkits to better assist officials of conservation districts, rural conservation and development districts, and county governments in working with their communities in exploring and understanding their role and opportunities in community wildfire protection, removal of debris after major storm disasters, and the utilization of woody biomass.

We have also spent considerable time and effort over the past five years exploring the use of woody biomass for energy rang¬ing from the “Fuels for Schools” concept for using wood chips to replace high cost natural gas to heat public facilities to the use of wood as a potential feedstock for cellulosic ethanol. Today we see the entire biomass energy field in a state of flux. The Energy Bill passed in December of 2007 contains a badly flawed definition of “renewable biomass” which makes woody biomass from much of our nation’s public and private lands ineligible for qualifying as a source of renewable fuels. The use of corn for ethanol has come under increasing scrutiny because of the “food verse fuel” debate. Wood residues are currently in short supply because of the downturn of the economy and construction. Some forest industries are quietly and aggressively moving forward in exploring wood energy opportunities while others are fearful of the impacts on raw material supplies and costs. Fuel costs are climbing and having an impact on the livelihood and business operations of farmers and loggers. Exploration and use of our nation’s natural oil and gas reserves are moving back into the forefront of consideration as are clean coal gasification, and nuclear power.

Given this state of flux as we near the completion of this project it is a good time to reflect and think about important role of conservation districts can play in assisting their local communities in exploring the realm of wood as an energy source or for that matter for any wood related product. The need to focus on the utilization of woody biomass will continue beyond this formal five-year effort as communities need the latest and most reliable information in order to fully explore and understand their options and the potential ramifications of their decisions when it comes to using woody biomass. This is an important role that conservation districts all over the U.S. can and should play. It is in this knowledge that we present this special insert and set of educational and other resources for consideration and use by conservation districts in assisting their communities as they explore the opportunities and pitfalls in the brave new world of woody biomass utilization.

A step ahead
Nebraska college sets example for how to utilize wood energy

Tucked away in the northwest corner of Nebraska, Chadron State College is home to 2,000 on-campus students. Those students sleep, eat and study in the campus’ two dozen buildings, all of which have relied on wood heat since the installation of two boiler systems in 1991.

Surrounded by forestland, Chadron has a comfortable supply of wood chips, which made it a good fit for the conversion from natural gas. Still, what makes the Chadron story remarkable is that it converted well before fossil fuel costs were at the astronomical rates they are at today.

The Ft. Robinson Fire of 1989 that devastated over 25,000 acres of Pine Ridge forestland encouraged campus leaders to explore alternative energy options. The College's administrators made the bold decision to move forward with the project even though it was criticized by a number of people.

"Once the natural gas prices took off it quieted all of the neysayers," said Dale Grant, the school's vice president for administration and finance.

Said University of Nebraska northwest district forester Doak Nickerson, "As it turns out, it's been a huge success story. The College's natural gas supplier said they'd return to gas, but they haven't. The College has made a steady diet of wood chips for 20 years now."

With the forest nearby, the College saw an opportunity to make the conversion when it was told it would need to update its boiler system. Accelerated timber harvesting and followed by forest thinnings on private forestland served as preventative measures for wildfire. Initially, Chadron used sawmill residue but switched to chipped slash material from sawlog harvest and thinning when the local sawmill went out of business.

According to Nickerson, the College uses approximately 9,000 tons of chipped ponderosa pine material annually, and has roughly 900 tons on reserve at all times. The school has two gas-powered boilers in place as a backup system.

The savings over those two decades has been considerable, and it's allowed the College a sense of self-reliance. Two years ago rising fuel costs forced Nebraska's colleges and universities to go to the state legislature for emergency appropriations to pay for the increased bills. The only college that did not need the assistance was Chadron.

"The only reason Chadron didn't need the help was because wood had been saving them money steadily as the year went on," said Nickerson.

Thanks to a new computer monitoring system added recently, the school has been able to burn its wood supply even more efficiently in recent years. The computer has streamlined the combustion process and made the boilers more responsive to heating and cooling needs on campus.  According to Nickerson, before they were seeing approximately three percent ash left over. Now that number has been cut in half. Said Nickerson, "We're getting all the Btu's out of the chip we possibly can."

Perhaps what makes Chadron's setup more unique than other schools is its addition of a wood-powered cooling system. In 2006, the school invested $1.3 million in a 700-ton air conditioning chiller system and now uses it to cool four of the campus' buildings; in time, the school would like to expand their cooling system.

"Wood will pay back that investment in a short order," said Nickerson, "especially if these natural gas prices continue to go up."

Flambeau explores the future of wood fuel
Proposed biofuels plant aims for self-sufficiency and a healthy bottom line

In July, Flambeau River BioFuels received word that a $30 million grant through the U.S. Department of Energy has been awarded for their proposed facility in northern Wisconsin. The news was another positive step in the two years worth of exploring and planning for the group.

Relying on forest residue supplied by Johnson Timber, the company aims to use 600 dry tons each year to produce approximately six million gallons of sulfur-free Fischer-Tropsch liquid and one trillion Btu of heat and power. The efforts also hope to stimulate a local economy that’s been stymied by the struggling paper industry by adding new temporary and full-time jobs.

Butch Johnson grew up in Park Falls and helped to expand his father’s successful business, Johnson Timber. In 2006 he was asked to help shop Flambeau River Papers to potential investors after it closed due to financial hardship. He and his son, Bill, explored all of the options for how it could once again become financially viable.

Said Bill Johnson, “The more we looked at it, the more we began to think we could make it work. Nobody in our company had worked at a pulp and paper mill, we had always been wood procurement and wood manufacturing guys. What we did know was that if we continued to do things the same way, we weren’t going to make it.”

The biggest obstacle in the past had been the increasing costs of natural gas which had made mill operating costs unbearable.

Johnson enlisted the help of CleanTech Partners, a Madison-based consulting firm which ran an energy audit. One of their recommendations required $197,000 capital expense but helped to save $2.1 million in the first year of that program. “Thanks to CleanTech we were able to win the Governor’s 2007 Pulp and Paper Energy Efficiency Award,” said Johnson.

As the company explored more energy-saving measures it began to hear more about wood-based ethanol as an alternative. CleanTech Partners and company consultant Ben Thorp helped connect Flambeau River Papers with an operation in Atlanta, Ga. where cellulosic ethanol had been effectively used at a pulp and paper mill.

“We decided maybe that wasn’t quite the right technology we wanted to get into,” said Johnson, “but going down that route we learned a lot about gasification.”

Now, thanks to that knowledge, the proposed plant should solve the bulk of the company’s energy operating concerns. The paper mill and biorefinery will share utility and waste water treatment costs, and with the expected annual amount of Btu to be produced, Flambeau River Papers will become the country’s first fossil-fuel-free pulp and paper mill.

All of the material will come from within a 150-mile radius of Park Falls and transported to the plant where it will undergo gasification. The syngas will then be fed through a gas-to-liquids Fischer Tropsch catalytic process.

Even before receiving the DOE grant the $84 million facility had received a stamp approval from state political leaders and financial backing from Citigroup. Still, Johnson acknowledged the announcement has helped to push this project to the next level.

“The award puts a stamp of approval on our project and confirms we’re doing the right thing,” said Johnson, whose group is now seeking additional capital. “We’re hopeful that with the grant and the DOE putting a fine tooth comb through this project will make this a project that investors believe in and wish to be a part of.”

 

The value of CROP
Valuable data is helping to encourage investment dollars
Following the Healthy Forest Restoration Act of 2003, Catherine Mater began to explore ways in which biomass could be ecologically and economically harvested from public and private lands by coordinating the removal across forest ownerships on a landscape scale.

According to Mater, that Act, the continued lack of coordinated, levelized resource offering, the shift in demand for biomass, and urgency placed on fuel load reductions on public forestland prompted the development of the CROP model (Coordinated Resource Offering Protocol).

CROP's tenants include:

• Coordinate projected resource offering over a five-year period within an area that typically extends 200 radial miles out from a defined centerpoint. This resource offering coordination would take place between all public forestland owners within the CROP landscape (USFS, BLM, state, county, etc.) federal agencies and between all public agencies.
• Levelize the resource offering between agencies included in the CROP landscape to reduce investor risk; invite investment within CROP regions; and capture highest off the resource being removed.
• Increase the trust factor with industry/environmental stakeholders and the general public through the transparency of the CROP process.
• Create new partnerships with forest-based community organizations in CROP landscapes to implement and monitor both the ecological benefits and removal performances of agencies within the CROP landscape over time.  

While the urgency for getting a handle on available biomass was there, Mater observed that efforts across the U.S. tended to be focused on biomass inventory rather than removal performance. As a result, many studies were being conducted on the overall biomass picture, but without much actually being accomplished on the ground.

"We needed to have a protocol that changed the dynamic of that," said Mater.

Her company, Oregon-based Mater Engineering, was initially asked to do an inventory evaluation of biomass for the Greater Flagstaff Forests Partnership in Arizona. The group's goals were to restore the natural ecosystem, reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire, and research, test and demonstrate key ecological, economical and social dimensions of restoration.  However the group lacked the coordination and markets to effectively utilize the smallwood and biomass material being produced. "That's when our focus shifted from inventory to coordination/removal," said Mater. "We wanted to know what these agencies believed they could actually perform to regarding biomass offering within a five-year period at landscape scale that would meet the area stakeholders' approval process."

In 2005, the U.S. Forest Service's Woody Biomass Utilization Team headed by Ed Gee issued a contract to Mater Engineering to conduct 10 CROP pilot projects across the country. Located in 15 different states across the US, the projects covered 27 national forests, 84 ranger districts, 35 BLM field offices and almost 200 county jurisdictions.  The results of these CROP projects can be found on the national U.S. Forest Service CROP Web site at
http://www.forestsandrangelands.gov/Woody_Biomass/supply/CROP/index.shtml.

According to Mater, the results from those projects are encouraging, but only a beginning.  The estimated volume of biomass and 50 percent of small log volume converted to biomass to be removed over the next five years would satisfy about one percent of recent national policy requirements that have since been put in place, including the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act.
"The amount of coordinated and levelized biomass coming off of those 10 CROPs conducted across the United States could really contribute to the 36 billion gallons of 2022 biofuel for the motor use production target set by Congress" said Mater, "and all of it within a context of sustainability and coordination amongst public land managers that sets a template for other public and private forestland owners to follow." In terms of numbers, the biomass and small log CROP volume would equate to almost three million green tons of woody biomass each year for the next five years or, enough biomass to service 11 new commercial scale bio-refineries that each could produce 20 million gallons of biofuel per year. 

Other USFS-funded CROPS are currently in process.  They are located in southeast Alaska, and the State of Missouri.  Additionally, the State of Utah has its third CROP analysis just completed, making it the first state in the nation with all of its forestland CROP-analyzed.  Central Oregon has already updated its initial 2003 CROP data and credits the CROP process for helping to secure $60 million in investment capital.

"We're seeing financial institutions paying attention to this data and using it for investment decisions," said Mater, "and all of it with the transparency at landscape scale that allows for a clear view of sustainability in what happens on the ground and in the ecosystem."

Thanks to advancements in technology, Mater emphasized the importance of tracking everything coming out of the forest, even though in the past much of that material may have been discarded.

"Outside of subsidies that may be allotted, if you really are trying to pay attention to both sustainability in the field and making it work on the bottom line you've got to pay attention to the value added component," said Mater. "Every CROP we do we request a break down on every species coming out of the forest broken down into six different diameter classes."

The next step, said Mater, could be to evaluate woody biomass next to agricultural feedstock.

"The demand for feedstock, particularly for biomass to biofuels production, is so great that part of the real fear is that there is not enough guidance in place to ensure that good practice and procedure is being followed relative to sustainability," said Mater.

"You'll never be able to satisfy the needs with just woody biomass. It needs to be combined with other feedstocks like ag feedstock, and there may be other things out there that we haven't considered yet."

For more information on CROP, contact Ed Gee, National Woody Biomass Utilization Team Leader & National Partnership Coordinator, Forest Management for the Forest Service at 202/205-1787 or email him at eagee@fs.fed.us; or contact Catherine Mater at Mater Ltd. at 541/753-7335, or email her at catherine@mater.com.

Finding common ground
Oregon group shows results thanks to a collaborative effort

The tug-of-war between competing interest groups has long created a standstill on public forestland, often with neither side willing to give ground or admit to the need for compromise.

In Lake County, Ore., located in the state’s south central region, a unique working group has offered encouraging results for how good work can be done through the power of collaboration.

By the mid-1990s, the area’s timber industry had declined to the point where the number of mills had been decreased from a half-dozen to one in a short amount of time.

Oregon’s sustained yield unit had guaranteed those mills the right to the logs coming from 450,000 acres of the state’s national forestland. “It was intended to sustain local industry,” said Jim Walls, executive director for the Lake County Resources Initiative, “but when it got down to just one mill there was no competition within the unit for those logs. It brought out a review as to whether the state should keep the sustained yield unit or not.”

At that time, Walls said, no environmental group was willing to support the policy. “We knew we had a difficult road,” he said.

Several of the area’s community leaders, including Jane O’Keeffe, the county commissioner, started examining ways to continue the policy through a group called Sustainable Northwest. At a meeting in 1998, scientists and environmental groups were invited to contribute to the discussion and what came from that meeting was the Lakeview Stewardship Group, which has since that time met quarterly and acted as a catalyst for the local wood industry while meeting the approval of its environmental partners. In 2002, thanks to the Group’s lobbying efforts, the sustained yield unit was re-established.

Walls was welcomed in 2002 by the group to start a non-profit to serve as a facilitator for the group and find new markets for the small diameter material that comes from thinnings. The non-profit, Lake County Resources Initiative examined all of the options. Of them, biomass seemed the safest and most reasonable. Even so, he acknowledged at the time that biomass was not competitive in the northwest.

Walls’ group began to explore what the affects would be if open-biomass could get the same federal protection credits that solar and closed-loop biomass got, and what the potential benefits carbon savings could be.

Soon after the Group began to track trends for thinning efforts and U.S. Forest Service activity, and set up a long-range strategy for the acreage in the sustained yield unit.

The Lakeview Stewardship Group was also instrumental in the Collins Companies deciding to put in a new $6.5 million small-diameter mill that was constructed in 2007. Plans for a $30 million 13 MW biomass plant are in the works. Perhaps the biggest success is that for the past few years the area has not been a single threat of litigation. That’s because Lakeview Stewardship Group’s diverse representatives can speak to all of those concerned parties and assure them of the Group’s mission.

Said Walls, after working to find common ground, all of the group’s members have become advocates of the collaboration.

“When people on all sides of an issue can come together and craft a proposal or a project, it is much less likely that the project will be litigated,” said O’Keeffe. “Collaborative solutions are good for the environment and good for communities who depend on natural resources economies.”

Added fellow member Mike Anderson, the senior resource analyst for The Wilderness Society, “Lakeview is a great example of how environmentalists can work with rural communities and the timber industry to achieve common goals.”

Group members understand that thinning efforts not only attract local industry, but they are important in helping to protect the forested resources that all of the partners on the Lakeview Stewardship Group value so much.

Said Walls, “One of the collaborators is Andy Kerr, a noted environmentalist in this area, and he’s now telling the Forest Service they’re not thinning heavy enough.”

For more information on the Lakeview Stewardship Group, contact Jim Walls at 541/947-5461, or email him at jwalls@gooselake.com.