Oregon: Most productive land in Oregon doesn’t have enough low grade wood to go around
A recent study of timber supply in Coos County has come up with a
surprising conclusion: There may not be enough wood available in the
region. The study, prepared by Landvest as a project of the Coos
County Economic Action Plan, focuses on the availability of low-grade
wood in a 75-mile radius of Berlin. A 50-year model incorporating
present stock, growth rate, species, terrain constraints and land use
and ownership estimated a baseline annual harvest of 4.6 million tons.
That breaks down into 3.6 million tons of low-grade logs, tops and
branches, and about 1.7 million tons of high-grade logs used for
lumber, furniture and veneer. Existing users — pulp mills and biomass
power plants — absorb almost 2.9 million tons annually already,
leaving an estimated 640,000 tons available.
See Clearcut animation of the region at: http://www.sightline.org/maps/animated_maps/forests_orcoast_anim/?searchterm=None
Proposed users, including
a Berlin pellet mill not included in the report, could require 1.5
million tons. Therein lies the problem. Pulling wood from outside the
75-mile radius could prove too expensive and make projects
economically unfeasible. Other proposed users include power plants, a
wood boiler at the Gorham paper mill and wood pellet plants in
Whitefield as well as in Island Pond, Vt. According to Alan McLain — a
Berlin native and former paper mill worker who’s principal in
Greenovia LLC, the company building the Berlin pellet mill — “to
start, we’re going to use about 200,000 tons,” he said. “In the next
phase, we’ll double that.” McLain had the idea for a local pellet mill
several years ago and was in the process of developing a business plan
when he met Albrecht Von Sydow, a German native and owner of Woodstone
USA LLC. Woodstone owns a plant in Holland, Mich., and is planning to
build one in Moreau, N.Y., as well as Berlin. Slated to break ground
in early 2009, the Berlin facility is expected to employ 30 to 35
workers. http://nhbr.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090116/INDUSTRY09/901149991/-1/INDUSTRY19
See Clearcut animation of the region at:
http://www.sightline.org/maps/animated_maps/forests_orcoast_anim/?searchterm=None
— Posted to http://forestpolicyresearch.com via gmail to posterous and
also to forestpolicyresearch@yahoogroups.com
Posted via email from Deane’s posterous