[MCN] Is forest biomass a hot new opportunity for rural jobs?

[Lance Olsen]

Forest Policy and Economics  Volume 74, January 2017, Pages 20-29

The potential rural development impacts of utilizing non-merchantable 
forest biomass
Mindy S. Crandall et al

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

Keywords
Rural communities; Market model; Public lands; Forest management

Abstract
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1389934116304075

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.


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the doctrine, and immediately 
practiced the contrary."
 
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