A Growing Forest Biomass Market Calls for Guidelines to Minimize Environmental Impact
Contact: Margaret Nagle (207) 581-3745
Contrary to popular perception, forest biomass is not waste. In today’s growing bioenergy industry, forest biomass is better described as “energy wood.”
Usually energy wood includes the tops, limbs and stems of poor form or size removed during harvest. But if market conditions are right, a growing energy wood market could result in increased processing of standing dead trees or “snags,” small-diameter stems and short-rotation stands, both natural and plantation — forest growth that provides food and shelter for wildlife, and helps reduce soil compaction and erosion.
With the increased demand on Northeastern forests to meet bioenergy needs, researchers in the University of Maine School of Forest Resources recommend the development of guidelines to minimize environmental impact on soil productivity, water quality and forest biodiversity.
Best management practices should focus on post-harvest conditions to mitigate environmental concerns at both the landscape and site levels, according to faculty researchers Jeffrey Benjamin and Robert Lilieholm, and graduate student Charles Coup, writing in the Northern Journal of Applied Forestry.