Description:A report on the Grass Valley Fire, October 2007, San Bernardino N.F. Excellent photography supports the narrative of the fire's progression from wildland fuel into a dense development. “Structure fires, driven by winds aligned with the streets, spread more rapidly than adjacent wildland fuels, producing mass ember spotting and intensity that ignited other structures.”
Description:A report on the Grass Valley Fire, October 2007, San Bernardino N.F. One of several key points: “The Grass Valley residential fire disaster was principally the result of high home ignition potential. The wildfire initiated the residential burning, but burning homes predominantly continued the fire spread to other homes without the wildfire as a significant factor.”
Description:Opinion piece by ROBERT MCFARLANE and GEORGE PHILIPPIDIS. Two of many good points:
The unprecedented escalation in oil and food prices is a clear and present danger to our economy and national security. The root cause of this crisis is our dependence on a single commodity, oil, for transportation -- we burn 145 billion gallons of gasoline a year. The only permanent solution is diversity in our fuel supply to ensure competition and choice in the marketplace.
The U.S. should immediately pursue a multifaceted biofuels strategy. First, while the corn industry improves productivity and sustainability, the U.S. should treat the commercialization of cellulosic technologies as a matter of national security -- a new Manhattan Project deserving all the necessary resources to accelerate deployment.
Description: Fuel for Flames or Fuel for Energy? State Forester Provides Testimony on Negative Impacts of “Renewable” Definition. In a hearing this morning by the House Committee on Agriculture: Subcommittee on Conservation, Credit, Energy and Research Butch Blazer, New Mexico State Forester, gave testimony on the western impacts of the 2007 Energy Bill, with particular focus on woody bioenergy opportunities and failings with the new Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS). Blazer, as a representative of the Council of Western State Foresters, raised concerns over artificial limitations placed on sources of woody biomass that qualify for the RFS, stating, “The Council's mission is to ensure the sustainability and health of western forests to meet today's needs and the needs of future generations. It is this mission that has compelled me to testify before you.”
The Energy Independence & Security Act of 2007, signed into law in December, 2007, includes a historic 36 billion-gallon renewable fuels standard (RFS) goal by the year 2017. A portion of which will be reached through the use woody biomass, or wood waste. However, a last-minute change in a definition prevents, for all intents and purposes, wood waste from federal lands - such as trees, wood, brush, thinnings, chips and slash from counting toward the renewable fuels goal.
Description: Under Fire - Watch the video, view the photo gallery. Be sure to read the captions. There are words of wisdom here.
Description: A Summary Report of Wood Utilization Efforts in Heating Systems in the Western United States and Territories. JUNE, 2008.
Description: Heating With Biomass - an Overview, or Where Wood Works by Craig Jones.
Description: Overview of space heating with biomass by Randy Hunsberger. Includes photos of construction of Gilpin County Road and Bridge shop and biomass heating plant.
Description: Overview of Boulder Co. Parks and Open Space and Transportation Building heated with biomass by Therese Glowacki. Heating with biomass saved approximately $30,000 during the winter of 2007-2008.
Description:The announcement of $4.1 million in grants to small rural businesses in the west highlights the need for increased investments and community involvement in finding solutions to western forest health issues. While the grants address the funding need, political challenges abound. Congress recently passed an energy bill that would eliminate woody biomass from projects such as these from being counted towards our Nation's renewable fuels standard.