Description:This PDF file contains Pictures of burn piles in Grand County. Don't you have to wonder why this material can't be utilized for some beneficial purpose?
Description:This PDF file contains the highlights of a forest health seminar. The material is made available to CFA members and visitors to the CFA web site in the hope that landowners will become more proactive in managing their land to minimize insect and disease problems. The included pictures should help landowners detect the presence of these pests. Direct and indirect control recommendations are included.
Description:Several of northern Colorado`s most recognized forestry-related organizations hosted a memorial tree planting April 22 in honor of American forestry leader Tom Borden.
Description:The executive summary provides a framework for conserving and enhancing the benefits from private working forests in the western U.S.
Description:Place-Based Strategies: Pine Beetles & Forest Health - A Best Practices Symposium - December 17, 2009, sponsored by FOR THE FOREST. Watch the videos covering the full symposium on their website. The first video covers lessons learned by three guests from Canada. It is well worth watching.
Description: Mark Udall and Michael Bennet, U.S. Senators for Colorado, today announced that Colorado-based ClearFuels Technology and ZeaChem will receive approximately $48 million under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to create as many as 200 new, full-time jobs producing high-quality, low-emission diesel and jet fuels.
Description:A Hawaii company has received $23 million in stimulus funds to work on a biorefinery project in Commerce City. Clearfuels Technology Inc. will be working to produce renewable diesel and jet fuel from woody biomass. The company says the project will bring 43 construction jobs to the city and 11 additional jobs at the facility. Lakewood-based ZeaChem Inc. also received funding: $25 million to support construction of the company's first cellulosic biorefinery in Oregon. The Energy Department announced Friday that a total of 19 renewable-fuel projects would receive $564 million in federal stimulus funds.
Description:This desk is made from Gambel oak. This desk was entered in the 2009 Cody High Style:Designing the West Exhibition. It was awarded the `Best of Show`, `Exhibitor's Choice`, and `People's Choice` awards. It was the first time in the history of the show that all three awards went to the same piece.
Description:And you thought lodgepole pine was only good for posts, poles, and studs!
Description:Obama signs bill to help agencies manage skyrocketing wildfire suppression costs.
Description:NV Energy Testing Producing Cleaner Energy.
NV Energy says it has found a way to be kinder to the environment while powering Las Vegas and it involves mixing coal with wood chips.
Description:A Colorado Success Story.
Bugs and disease are killing America's forests. Mark Mathis started Confluence Energy and is turning all that biomass into green heat.
Description:A study of seven years of wildfires (2001-2007)
This report shows that the wildfires that scorched California from 2001 to 2007 seriously degraded the state's forests and contributed to global warming. Political and economic obstacles to managing forests and restoring burned forests are the root causes of the wildfire crisis.
The emissions from only the seven years of wildfires documented in this study are equivalent to adding an estimated 50 million more cars onto California's highways for one year, each spewing tons of greenhouse gases. Stated another way, this means all 14 million cars in California would have to be locked in a garage for three and one-half years to make up for the global warming impact of these wildfires.
Description:Request for Proposal
Pre-application deadline is Nov. 20.
2010 Hazardous Fuels Woody Biomass Utilization The hazardous fuels woody biomass utilization grant program is intended to help improve forest restoration activities by using and creating markets for low-valued material and woody biomass removed from forest restoration activities on both public and private forestlands. These funds are targeted to help communities, entrepreneurs, and others turn residues from hazardous fuel reduction and forest health activities into marketable forest products and/or energy products.
Description:NRCS Conservation Stewardship Program. CSP encourages agricultural and forestry producers to maintain existing conservation activities and adopt additional ones onto their operations.
Description:. If you can help us understand the financial, economic, or political aspects of this situation as described in the next two bullets, please step forward and share your knowledge.
Description:The U.K. government has approved construction of a 60-megawatt biomass power plant at the Port of Tilbury Docks in Essex that is expected to be operational in 2012.
The plant will run on 300,000 metric tons annually of wood chips and wood waste, and another 300,000 metric tons of solid recovered fuel from sources such as household waste, according to the developer, Tilbury Green Power, a subsidiary of Express Energy. The feedstock will be delivered by boat and barge mostly from Europe and the U.S. and some from the U.K.
Description:Americas likely source for growing UK wood biomass appetite, projected at 22 million tons/year
The United Kingdom is fast positioning itself as a huge potential consumer of wood biomass, having six projects proposed with a projected total demand of 22 million green tons/year. North America appears the likely candidate as a supplier for furnish, worth an estimated $550 million/year at the dock.
Description:As a consequence of the current mountain pine beetle epidemic, many landowners and land managers are concerned about how to actively manage lodgepole pine stands to:
1) treat the dead standing trees killed by the insects,
2) protect homes and communities from wildfire, and
3) ensure that the future forest is better structured to prevent widespread mortality from insect epidemics and wildfire.
Description:Springs Utilities in Colorado Springs, will contract with a biomass management company this fall to deliver woody biomass to its Martin Drake Power Plant.
The available wood biomass supply is enough to continuously blend 15 percent biomass with 85 percent coal, according to Terry Meikle, who has led the effort to produce biomass energy in the area. That 15 percent will produce about 150,000 megawatts per year, he said. The wood biomass will include forestry in a 75-mile radius, including trees killed by pine beetles, and urban biomass such as pallets and tree trimmings, Meikle said. “We have a couple mitigation fuels that are available to us, as well,” he added, citing wood pellets, energy crop pellets, and paper and cardboard pellets. The plant is capable of burning coal and natural gas and with the addition of biomass will be one of the few power plants in the nation that can burn three types of fuel.
Description:The millions of acres of dead, downed and diseased timber infected by pine beetles in Colorado and the Western U.S. could be put to beneficial use by the biomass industry, and also help with forest fire mitigation and suppression, according to Mark Mathis, Pellet Fuels Institute Government Affairs and Commercial Fuel Committee member.
Description:To acquire more articles of local interest the CFA Board of Directors has established a new policy to encourage members and students to submit articles for consideration. Read this notice for details on topics and compensation.
Description:Foresters have issued a “call to action” to prevent further spread of a major bark beetle epidemic, with targeted land including the Lake Tahoe area and other parts of the Sierra. “The Tahoe Basin is a perfect spot” to try and get ahead of a beetle infestation that threatens about 22 million acres of forest across the West,” said Pete Anderson, Nevada`s state forester and chairman of the forestry council. Thinning overgrown forests is the most effective way to avoid beetle infestation “so you don`t have a host,” Anderson said.
From the Reno Gazette Journal 3/24/2009.
Description:To date, observations of mountain pine beetle's success in mixed-host species situations, where lodgepole pine is mixed with limber pine, Rocky Mountain bristlecone pine, or ponderosa pine, all suggest that the beetle will readily surmount the transitional hurdles associated with host tree species other than lodgepole pine. It appears that the mountain pine beetle will likely move through the lodgepole pine /ponderosa pine ecotone and into the pure ponderosa pine forests of the northern Front Range and impact all species of pines in the process.
Description:There are several forestry issues in our local area needing our attention. Nederland is at risk of wildfires and this risk will only increase with increased impacts from the Mountain Pine and Ips Beetles.
Also, Defensible space, Beetle Kill, Sort Yard, CWPP Needed.
Description:Although bark beetles are native to forests of the western U.S., severe drought in combination with unhealthy forest conditions over the past decade have resulted in extraordinary levels of bark beetle-caused tree mortality across the West. We are positioned to address the unhealthy forest conditions contributing to bark beetle outbreaks through active management. While we cannot stop large outbreaks, with additional resources we can minimize the impacts of ongoing and future outbreaks on the 2.4 million acres of highest priority in the West. Without increased active forest management we can expect more bark beetle outbreaks, severe wildfire, and negative impacts on public benefits from forests. Now is the window.
Description:This white paper contains talking points for your use in conversations, letters to editors, or meetings. Please download the pdf file so that you can email it to other land owners. Keep printed copies in your brief case to distribute whenever the topic comes up. Use it to encourage people to visit the CFA web site to read the President's message from the stump and this News and Information page for more information.
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Description:This condensed version can be printed on business cards so that you can keep them handy in your pocket. These should print on Avery 8873 or similar card stock. You may want to print this on the back side of your own business cards.
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Description:This pdf file contains one card image. Please download the pdf file so that you can copy and paste it into emails or any other software you may use.
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Description:A clear link between climate, fires, and tree establishment episodes has been identified, showing the importance of regional historical processes on the composition and structure of our current forests.
Description:High-elevation five-needle pines, keystone species in fragile ecosystems throughout western North America, are being beset by changing climates, the introduction of non-native pests, and the reduction of naturally occurring fires. Bark beetles and diseases are threatening tree species growing in these ecosystems; the most serious short-term threat is a native insect, the mountain pine beetle. While not unprecedented, mountain pine beetle populations in high-elevation, five-needle pine stands are presently at higher levels than previously recorded. In most stands throughout the West, populations have increased dramatically within the past 8-10 years, infesting more than 1.2 million acres and killing as many as six million five-needle pines. We anticipate beetle populations will remain high as long as weather conditions are conducive to beetle survival and/or until most mature host trees have been killed.
Description:Read the text and watch the video clip.
The primary target of the beetles is the lodgepole pine, but the bug has developed a taste for another tree. Ponderosa pines on the Front Range are now being killed as well, according to Cain.
Description:CFA board member, Charles Henry is is featured.
Good video from Grand County. Too bad they didn't show the green clearcuts from the 1950's and 60's. Warning - You have to watch a commercial first.
Description:Statewide 2008 aerial detection survey map showing extent of three major concerns.
Description:The highlights - Because of greater variability in age, size, density and species diversity in the ponderosa pine-dominated forests of the northern Front Range, the course of the mountain pine beetle epidemic and the severity of losses are difficult to predict. We suspect that tree mortality in ponderosa pines will be more variable than the losses observed in lodgepole pine forests that are west of the Continental Divide.
A strong and coordinated effort among all of those impacted by this infestation is the only way to address an epidemic of this size and severity.
Description:Acres infested by pest, by host tree species, by county.
Description:Get detailed maps here.
Description:IIf you want to get right to the meat of the matter, jump to page 43, Attachment 1, The Selected Alternative.
Description:This USFS web page contains the Final EIS, Draft EIS, Current lynx research, Canada Lynx Conservation Assessment and Stategy and more.
Description:Recent catastrophic wildfires in the United States have highlighted the increasing threat of wildfires to urban and rural communities. Since the establishment of the National Fire Plan in 2001, and the passage of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act in 2003, hundreds of communities across the United States have developed community fire plans, engaged in Firewise activities, and taken action at a community level to reduce their risk to wildfire. There are, however, thousands more communities across the country that remain at risk to wildfire. This page is dedicated to highlighting the resources, publications, and examples of strategies for developing, implementing, and monitoring Community Wildfire Protection Plans and for fostering collaborative activities aimed at reducing wildfire risk and restoration of forests and landscapes. Highlights include strategies for engaging vulnerable populations, as well as integrating landscape restoration within fire planning activities.
Description:. It included $910 M within a disaster supplement for firefighting costs, emergency fire prevention efforts and recovery of lands impacted by fire. The supplemental funds are broken down as follows: $775 M went to the USFS including $610 M to pay back the transferred monies from across the USFS programs; $175 for hazardous fuels treatment activities ($125 M for state & private activities and $50 M for projects on national forest land); $25 M was provided for firefighter retention activities; $75 M for restoration activities.
Description:This funding will restore the budget for Colorado's region (Region 2), which was raided in 2008 for fire suppression activities in other parts of the country, and will allow additional hazardous fuels reduction and bark beetle mitigation activities in 2009. The Senate is expected to approve the CR this weekend.
Description:The fire control operations of the USDA Forest Service and land managing agencies in the Dept. of Interior are funded based on 10 year average costs. In years with above average fire activity, the costs incurred above average year funding are covered by robbing other programs. See the next two items.
Description:We, the undersigned, urge you to provide emergency supplemental appropriations to cover US Forest Service (USFS) and Department of the Interior (DOI) wildland fire operations costs above originally appropriated amounts. In the absence of adequate firefighting funding, the USFS has been forced to move $400 million from non-fire accounts to support fire suppression efforts. This has disrupted or completely stopped many important programs, projects and cooperative agreements benefiting public and private forests, including forest management, wildlife habitat, conservation, and research activities, many of which help prevent or minimize wildfires.
Description:The National Association of State Foresters (NASF) urges you to provide emergency supplemental appropriations, of an amount sufficient to recover costs, to the US Forest Service (USFS) and Department of the Interior (DOI) for wildland fire operations.
Description:The phone survey of business contacts measured positions currently on staff, salary ranges, future hires, and essential skill sets of new hires. It created a baseline for determining educational need for forestry positions, as well as potential demand and job expectations. The survey took place in April and May 2008. A total of 51 businesses responded to the study.
Description:This report addresses business cycles, globalization, global climate change and the need for a new timber business model. Sustainable forest products business models of the future will emerge as a result of proactive healthy forest management, not the other way around. This is a fundamental change from the past forest industry business model. That model emerged in an era of abundant wood supply that exceeded manufacturing capacity and that was strongly driven by market demand for timber products. That era is over. The demand in this era is for desirable forest conditions that reflect societys desires for fish and wildlife habitat, esthetics, recreation, etc. over wood production.
Description:While energy costs continue to rise with no end currently in sight, one Vermont community is developing a community energy plan that saves money, reduces their dependence on foreign oil, combats climate change, improves forest health, and supports local industries and workers. This report details how a rural community can take advantage of the cost savings of wood energy while assuring that the wood is sourced and utilized in a “Sustainable, Efficient, Local, and Fair (SELF)” manner.
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.