The potential rural development impacts of utilizing non-merchantable forest biomass

Published Date
January 2017, Vol.74:20–29, doi:10.1016/j.forpol.2016.11.002

Author 

Mindy S. Crandall ^a,,

Darius M. Adams ^b,

Claire A. Montgomery ^b,

David Smith ^c,

aSchool of Forest Resources, 5755 Nutting Hall, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469, USA

bForest Engineering, Resources, and Management, 280 Peavy Hall, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA

cWood Science and Engineering, 119 Richardson Hall, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA

Received 17 June 2016. Revised 11 October 2016. Accepted 1 November 2016. Available online 11 November 2016.

Highlights

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  A market model was used to assess the potential for forestry to impact rural communities.
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  High prices and low costs were necessary to stimulate rural development through biomass use.
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  Policies such as establishment subsidies encouraged some additional development.
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  Increases in federal biomass had little effect on establishment in most locations.

Abstract

The development of a market for currently non-merchantable forest material, such as harvest residues or small diameter trees, has been suggested as a possible win-win solution that could: (i) provide a material that can be processed in rural communities reeling from changes in the forest products industry and policy environment; (ii) capture more value from timber management activities; and (iii) provide a financial incentive for treatments to reduce wildfire risk or restore forest stands. Modeling the supply of this material with spatially-explicit potential demand locations allows for a realistic analysis of the feasibility of such a market to stimulate rural development. We model multiple scenarios for the utilization of harvest residues within the current forest products market in western Oregon. Sensitivity analysis explored the effects of cost of the depots on feasibility, including policy designed to support depot establishment through subsidies. Scenarios were also used to assess the effects of increases in federal harvest activities. Results suggest that with relatively high biomass prices, there is some potential for investment in depots to aid rural communities in western Oregon, but there is little change in either the overall feasibility or the location of depot establishment under scenarios of increased federal harvest.

Keywords

Rural communities

Market model

Public lands

Forest management

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  Corresponding author.

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