Barry Wynsma U.S. Forest Service, Retired Evergreen Magazine Columnist (Evergreenmagazine.com) Smallwood 2012 Flagstaff, Arizona May 2, 2012

Transcription

1 Barry Wynsma U.S. Forest Service, Retired Evergreen Magazine Columnist (Evergreenmagazine.com) Smallwood 2012 Flagstaff, Arizona May 2, 2012

2 Small Trees, Small Machines Big Opportunity

3 It s Hard to be an Optimist

4 During these times of depressed lumber markets, lack of traction for biomass utilization infrastructure and markets, the poor economy and reduced budgets and personnel for our land management agencies, it s hard to be an optimist about both forest products businesses and federal land management.

5 I would like to discuss two big opportunities that exist as a result of these severe economic times. The opportunities are for both forest product businesses as well as for land managers.

6 TWO BIG OPPORTUNITIES 1. PLANTATION THINNING 2. ROAD MAINTENANCE WORK

7 PLANTATION THINNING

8 Many plantations established over the past 15 to 40 years are not of sawlog-size but are in need of either precommercial or commercial thinning

9 Current Forest Service budgets for conducting precommercial thinning are small compared to the need and are declining. 1. Bonners Ferry District = Funded for 250 acres in Northern Region = 1,500,000 acres of plantations 15 to 40 years old

10 This need creates an opportunity for the Forest Service to enlist the aid of businesses that possess small-scale mechanical thinning machines where a combination of forest product markets and available funding mechanisms can accomplish this work even when markets and funding are limiting.

11 The costs of accomplishing thinning treatments, combined with the values of available forest products, may in many cases strike a balance where thinning can be accomplished at or near zero for the government (otherwise known as us taxpayers).

12 In other cases, the cost of mechanically thinning 15 year old plantations by mulching without utilization of biomass may equal the current cost of hand-thinning followed by piling and burning.

13 Mulching has the benefit of eliminating smoke and incidental mortality of residual trees that would otherwise result from burning slash piles. This is a way for small businesses to survive forest product market downturns and continue to make payments on their equipment.

14 ROAD MAINTENANCE

15 A recent Forest Service issue paper titled: USDA Forest Service Update September 2009; Subject: Legacy Roads and Trails Funding discloses the following information about the Forest Service road system:

16 Congress continues to be concerned about the condition of Forest Service roads and the potential environmental impacts. The Forest Service Road System includes 378,000 total miles. The best estimate is that the Forest Service can only maintain about 25% to standard through appropriation dollars.

17 These two Forest Service management needs for plantation thinning and road maintenance are vastly underfunded. Yet the lack of funding creates a huge opportunity for exploiting the value of forest products to provide the funding for the needed work, if only forest product businesses can be developed to help meet the need.

18 The concept of using smallscale machinery that can harvest small trees while accomplishing plantation thinning and road maintenance vegetative clearing objectives is not just hypothetical; people are already at work at making this concept successful.

19 PLANTATION THINNING Meet Ehrmantrout Thinning Services; Owned and operated by Dave Ehrmantrout and two of his sons, Mackey and Nick; cell ph: ) Priest River, Idaho

20 Ehrmantrouts business model is to fill the niche in the forest products business community by concentrating on working in mostly small diameter timber stands. They operate their two small-scale harvesting machines and a small-scale forwarder to thin stands and market small pulplogs, small diameter sawlogs, posts, poles and also chip biomass when the local market is economically feasible.

21 According to Dave: The business started in late spring of The boys were doing 60 % post & pole at that time, and for the next 2 seasons. As of February 2012 we have completed 1,210 acres of private lands and 460 acres of Agency wood (State of Idaho and U.S.F.S.). We now are capable of harvesting up to 500 acres per year, if the work is there.

22 FIRST YEAR 2005

23 2012

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26 Templemental Stewardship Project, Bonners Ferry Ranger District, Idaho Panhandle NF

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28 1,000- acre Healthy Forests Restoration Act project Includes 270-acre 30-year old plantation to be mechanically thinned to spacing of 15 to 20 feet Will require removal of excess slash from the National Forest

29 30 YEAR OLD PLANTATION

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32 Next meet Jeff Thill, slash piling and mechanical thinning business owneroperator; P.O. Box 292, Troy, Montana ph:

33 Jeff has been a slash piling contractor for the Forest Service and private land owners for years and also does small scale logging on private lands. Recently begun to expand his business model to include mechanical fuels reduction thinning-mulching services combined with forest product utilization when feasible.

34 Jeff owns and operates a very small Kobelco 50SR excavator with a grapple for piling, a small mulching head for thinning very small trees and a small felling head for felling small trees up to about 8 inches in diameter. The excavator has a 39 hp engine

35 Jeff is willing to contract with the Forest Service to thin young plantations, and to use the combination of mulching with harvesting small trees where forest product removals are economically feasible.

36 I believe either service contracts or stewardship contracts could be used by the Forest Service to accomplish mechanical thinning of plantations

37 Equal cost to hand thinning with slash piling and burning or at costs cheaper than hand thinning Cost to the government could approach zero dollars per acre if enough value from small diameter pulplogs and incidental small diameter sawlogs are available within the plantations to be thinned.

38 Jeff Thill discussing potential plantation thinning opportunities and tree selection objectives with Forest Service employees

39 Kobelco 50SR with a mulching head

40 Mechanically thinning-mulching juvenile trees within this open timber stand on private property

41 Thinned regeneration. Trees are approximately 6 to 12 feet tall here

42 Next meet Evergreen Wood Energy LLC, a partnership owned by Alan Flory, Vance Warden and Jamie Barton from Bonners Ferry, Idaho. Ph: arfarf21@hotmail.com

43 Alan Flory and his brother Kevin, along with their partners have been pioneer small log harvesters for over 20 years in Bonners Ferry, Idaho.

44 Recently expanded their business model to include the biomass market, when economically feasible. In addition to purchasing the horizontal grinder shown in the photo below, they also purchased a small Cat 311 excavator that includes a tree shear, a mulching head and a bucket in order to maximize the versatility of their operation.

45 With their small excavator and mulching head, they are willing to try mechanical thinning young plantations as well as older year old plantations that would have small diameter pulplogs, incidental small sawlogs and biomass available for utilization Standard timber sale or stewardship contracts would be feasible

46 Evergreen Wood Energy LLC, Bonners Ferry Idaho, thinning a private woodlot and grinding biomass

47 Forest Service commercial thinning project, Bonners Ferry

48 Tree shear mounted on CAT 311

49 Thinned to ft spacing

50 ROAD MAINTENACE

51 Evergreen Wood Energy LLC is the purchaser of the Bonners Ferry Ranger Districts first road maintenance timber sale

52 Project encompasses a 9-mile stretch of forest road where trees were needed to be removed in order to facilitate snow plowing and to improve public safety. The small timber sale also provided the financial means to place gravel along the worst 1 mile segment of rough rocky road surface.

53 Project includes approximately 250 thousand board feet of sawlogs Contract requires the purchaser to remove all slash from within the 20 foot clearing limits of the project and from the National Forests. This is the first time the Bonners Ferry Ranger District has made biomass removal a mandatory requirement for a standard timber sale contract.

54 Placing gravel on 1 mile road segment

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56 Before Clearing Roadside

57 After Vegetation Clearing

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59 3-way Sort Sawlogs, Pulplogs, Biomass

60 CONCLUSION The use of small machines for thinning plantations and accomplishing road maintenance objectives provides a big opportunity for both forest product businesses and land managers. By exploiting the values of forest products, an economical means to accomplish this much needed work provides a viable solution to inadequate appropriated funding.

61 All it will take to make this happen is for land managers and small forest product business owners to work together in finding what works best for both parties within individual communities and National Forests. GIT-R-DONE!