Evaluation of silvicultural treatments and biomass use for reducing fire hazard in western states

Abstract

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U.S. Billion-Ton Update: Biomass Supply for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry

“…[These operations are visualized in Figures 3.1 and 3.2.] A Web-based tool, the Fuel Treatment Evaluator, was subsequently developed to identify, evaluate, and prioritize fuel treatment opportunities that would remove excess biomass and promote a more natural fire regime pattern, with recurrence of less severe fire Skog et al, 2006 limitations, and merchandizing thinnings into two utilization groups (conventional forest products and bioenergy products).…”

Market impacts of hypothetical fuel treatment thinning programs on federal lands in the western United States

“…Thus, in addition to modeling wood supply by size class of trees and logs, we used harvest cost models to obtain estimates for FTM-West of harvesting costs unique to each tree size class. Harvesting costs for wood removed in fuel treatments were estimated by the FTE 3.0 program (Skog et al, 2006), using the calculation routine from "My Fuel Treatment Planner" (Biesecker and Fight, 2006). Timber harvesting costs for conventional timber supply were estimated by tree diameter class using a conventional timber harvest cost model by Keegan et al (2002).…”

“…Estimates of potential wood supply from hypothetical fuel treatment programs and corresponding harvest costs for FTMWest were developed using the Fuel Treatment Evaluator 3.0 (Skog et al, 2006). FTE 3.0 is a web-based tool that selects forest areas for treatment and applies simulated treatments based on extensive forest inventory sample plot data on timberland in twelve western U.S. states.…”

“…These states encompass the same geographic area as the FTM-West market model. We used FTE 3.0 and techniques developed by Skog et al (2006), to select FIA plots eligible for treatment (e.g. plots with high levels of fire hazard), to derive estimates of wood biomass quantities that would be removed to achieve targeted reductions in fire hazard under different thinning regimes, and to estimate corresponding harvest costs.…”

A synthesis of biomass utilization for bioenergy production in the Western United States.

“…For example, Skog et al (2006) found that slope can play a key role influencing net financial returns on fuel reduction treatments. Fiedler et al (1999) evaluated restoration thinnings for ponderosa pine forests and found that on slopes of less than 35 percent, net revenues of $950 per acre were possible when a roundwoodpulpwood market was present.…”