Dalia Abbas

Economics and Logistics of Biomass Utilization in the Superior National Forest

Forest fires pose a great risk to nearby communities and dwellings. Many forest managers work to reduce such risks by managing fuels. This article explains the economic and logistical factors of a forest biomass utilization option instead of the conventional disposal method of on-site piling and burning for fuel reduction. Benefits from biomass utilization are multiple and include reduced impacts to air quality, improved forest health, economic opportunities, local renewable energy production, and climate change mitigation. Trials in the Superior National Forest examined the feasibility of using conventional equipment to extract and utilize forest biomass compared with disposal of biomass with pile and burn techniques. Factors that increase the costs of biomass utilization include: machinery down-time, distance to end users, low biomass price, size of the harvest unit, forwarding distance, the number of machines hauled to sites to complete small-sized operations, the modest amount of biomass removed per acre and applying prescriptions that were not designed for extraction logistics. Interviews with forest machine operators during and after the trials helped clarify factors and logistics considerations, which could be applied to help reduce the cost of future operations.

European and United States Perspectives on Forest Operations in Environmentally Sensitive Areas

ABSTRACT This paper offers a forest operations perspective in environmentally sensitive areas in Europe and the United States. The objective is to help inform key sustainability knowledge gaps in forest operations to reduce impacts on the environment and the equipment operators in these increasingly targeted and difficult to operate in areas. Under existing guidelines and best management practices, the protection of ecosystem services linked to soil, water, wildlife and biodiversity have rightly received the highest considerations. However, the connection between protecting these ecological values, safe operational practices and technological advancements is rarely well articulated. One means to address the operational and technological gap is the selection of equipment and tailor the work conditions to terrain type, forest features and management objectives. To that effect, this paper discusses the environmental, planning, equipment selection and operator considerations and proposes possible solutions and guidelines to contain both the operators’ safety and environmental risks in forest operations.

Benchmarking technical and cost factors in forest felling and processing operations in different global regions during the period 2013–2014

ABSTRACT In a global bioeconomy, benchmarking costs is essential in the evaluation of current forest harvesting systems and addressing decisions on the most efficient supply chains for available forest resources. Benchmarking cost rates in forestry is challenging, due to a lack of harmonized terminology and difficulties in collecting information on comparable forest technologies. This study provides a first-time series of cost factors to be used when modeling and evaluating the cost competitiveness of forest felling and processing operations on a global scale. It is based on an expert survey using a standardized method of data collection. This benchmarking identifies and updates the knowledge of technical and socio-economic factors capable of influencing the cost rates of forest felling and processing operations across different regions. This study is expected to act as a reference for larger investigations, and for regular updates, with the aim to provide current data that can be used by forest practitioners and decision makers for improving their cost efficiency and for designing future supply systems more effectively.