State would increase harvest of logging leftovers for fuel

The state of Washington thinks tens of millions of dollars
might be going up in smoke each year on state-managed
timber lands.

Forest biomass is the stuff left behind after logging
operations and is usally burned as slash. Olympic
Peninsula logger Bill Herman says there’s value in turning
tree limbs and other wood waste into fuel for nearby mills
and other local businesses.

“In studying the heat value of biomass, I found out that
each truckload hauls enough biomass to be equal to 1,500
gallons of oil,” said Herman who spoke at a news
conference in Olympia. The biggest cost of harvesting
biomass is in transporting the material away from logging
sites so it’s most cost-effective when processed and sold
locally.

State Lands Commissioner Peter Goldmark released a
study Tuesday revealing that just a small percentage
of available forest biomass is commercially harvested.

He says the University of Washington study found that the
amount of forest biomass is about 4.4 dry tons with just
1/3 of that available and 1/3 of that smaller amount
actually commercially used in 2010.

The study also found that there is plenty of
biomass to support a healthy forest and provide commercial
value as fuel.

The byproducts of logging operations create pollution when
burned as slash, but Goldmark says they have value if
processed as fuel. “Most of the forest biomass that will
be potentially utilized through this process is material
that would otherwise release carbon into the atmosphere,
anyway, to no good purpose.”

Goldmark wants to expand the forest biomass
industry, which he says would support green jobs and he
would also study the possibility of converting biomass to
jet fuel.