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Douglas County Commissioner Joe Laurance has proposed a project to identify and prioritize biomass retrieval projects within the Umpqua National Forest.
At a meeting last week of the biomass opportunities group formed by Laurance, the first-term commissioner introduced a proposal he hopes would help establish a program to provide sellable timber and reduce the threat of wildfire.
He plans to seek $150,000 in funding through a Title II program that distributes money through local resource advisory committees as part of the federal timber safety net.
Laurance hopes that existing draft harvest and thinning contracts could be modified to provide retrieval of biomass materials, which would, in turn, reduce forest fuel loads. It would also develop criteria that would be used for future contract proposals.
He said it could also sidestep costly and time-consuming litigation by ensuring active participation in the process by various constituent groups.
“Yes, maybe the Forest Service would look at this as a model,” Laurance said in answer to a question.
The meeting Thursday was the second of a hand-picked group of more than two dozen timber industry officials, environmentalists, Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management representatives and members of other interest groups. Laurance wants to develop biomass opportunities that would increase timber production and increase county revenues while decreasing the fire threat.
To be successful, biomass efforts will require identification of ways to retrieve excess forest materials while still allowing timber companies to make a profit, said Cliff Dils, supervisor for the Umpqua National Forest.
“How can we make it more attractive to industry so they’ll say, ‘Yeah, we’ll take this stuff out,’” Dils said was one question that needs to be answered.
Laurance said he would like to see the project serve as a springboard for the public to get involved with biomass projects and to offer suggestions.
“If you’ve got an idea for a better mouse trap, we want to hear about it,” he said.
If the work proves successful, models could be developed not only for reducing fire loads on national forests but on other state and county public lands and on private timberlands, as well, he said.
“It will be worth more than you can imagine,” Laurance said.
Laurance said he would like to see the county establish a test project on a county forest stand. That could be done more easily, officials said, than to go through the extensive environmental process required for projects on federal forest land.
Ken Hendrick, who recently retired as the head of the county’s Land Department, said there was a site near Camas Valley that might be utilized for a test project. Slash piles were to be placed close to existing roads to make retrieval easier and it would be easy to study the economics of getting that material to one of the existing co-generation electricity producers in the area, he said.
Laurance said he would like to see the project receive approval and start up in October, with a projected completion date of Sept. 30, 2008.
• You can reach reporter John Sowell at 957-4209 or by e-mail at jsowell@newsreview.info.
At a meeting last week of the biomass opportunities group formed by Laurance, the first-term commissioner introduced a proposal he hopes would help establish a program to provide sellable timber and reduce the threat of wildfire.
He plans to seek $150,000 in funding through a Title II program that distributes money through local resource advisory committees as part of the federal timber safety net.
Laurance hopes that existing draft harvest and thinning contracts could be modified to provide retrieval of biomass materials, which would, in turn, reduce forest fuel loads. It would also develop criteria that would be used for future contract proposals.
He said it could also sidestep costly and time-consuming litigation by ensuring active participation in the process by various constituent groups.
“Yes, maybe the Forest Service would look at this as a model,” Laurance said in answer to a question.
The meeting Thursday was the second of a hand-picked group of more than two dozen timber industry officials, environmentalists, Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management representatives and members of other interest groups. Laurance wants to develop biomass opportunities that would increase timber production and increase county revenues while decreasing the fire threat.
To be successful, biomass efforts will require identification of ways to retrieve excess forest materials while still allowing timber companies to make a profit, said Cliff Dils, supervisor for the Umpqua National Forest.
“How can we make it more attractive to industry so they’ll say, ‘Yeah, we’ll take this stuff out,’” Dils said was one question that needs to be answered.
Laurance said he would like to see the project serve as a springboard for the public to get involved with biomass projects and to offer suggestions.
“If you’ve got an idea for a better mouse trap, we want to hear about it,” he said.
If the work proves successful, models could be developed not only for reducing fire loads on national forests but on other state and county public lands and on private timberlands, as well, he said.
“It will be worth more than you can imagine,” Laurance said.
Laurance said he would like to see the county establish a test project on a county forest stand. That could be done more easily, officials said, than to go through the extensive environmental process required for projects on federal forest land.
Ken Hendrick, who recently retired as the head of the county’s Land Department, said there was a site near Camas Valley that might be utilized for a test project. Slash piles were to be placed close to existing roads to make retrieval easier and it would be easy to study the economics of getting that material to one of the existing co-generation electricity producers in the area, he said.
Laurance said he would like to see the project receive approval and start up in October, with a projected completion date of Sept. 30, 2008.
• You can reach reporter John Sowell at 957-4209 or by e-mail at jsowell@newsreview.info.
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