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For
hundreds of thousands of acres of forest lands weakened by overcrowding, drought, disease
and decades of fire suppression, the integrated biomass power facilities provide
landowners a vehicle for removing fire hazards without incurring great costs.The ultimate
goal is to create desired forest conditions, similar to those that existed in the early
1800’s. The best trees remain. Smaller, competing trees are removed as well as
undesired undergrowth, and diseased and dying trees, helping to eliminate the fuel ladders
that would otherwise transport fire from the ground to the tree crowns. The materials
used at the biomass plants are those having no value for lumber or pulp chip production,
and would otherwise be left in the forest or burned.
The U.S. Forest Service
has conceded that too much fuel exists, creating a crisis situation on tens
of millions of acres in the west.
Unfortunately, it has chosen to primarily use prescribed fire as a fuel
reduction tool, which
is both risky and a great detriment to air quality. Since the typical overstocked
forest stand contains 30-50 tons per acre of dangerously dry excess fuel, the potential risk of
igniting a catastrophic fire through prescribed burning is staggering. The biomass
industry would rather see a majority of the material removed through thinning and then
prescribed fire introduced to return the stand to a natural condition.
By
removing the excess materials from the forest stand, several important benefits are
achieved. Fire danger is greatly reduced and becomes
manageable, forest health is improved and air pollution from fires is reduced.
The larger trees that are left continue to grow and mature, but at a much faster rate than
before since there is less competition for sunlight, water and soil nutrients. Studies
show that forest thinning for desired conditions protects watersheds and even increases
water yield and quality — an important benefit in the water hungry state of California. |
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Reducing
Catastrophic Forest Fires
Today our
western forests are a virtual tinderbox. Unlike the mild, beneficial fires of the past,
today's fire is hotter, moves faster, and is much more destructive — even destroying
soil fertility. Forest thinning to protect against catastrophic fire has been successfully
used as a tool in California on private, state and federal lands for over 15 years.
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