Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Biomass From A Tree Farmer's View

An interesting perspective presented here.  Came across this in the Wood Energy News put out by Kilwa Biomass.  The article appeared in the Amherst Bulletin on March 4th.  It presents an interesting viewpoint on biomass havesting from the landowner perspective, in this case a Tree Farmer.

Biomass from a tree farmer's view
by: Cinda Jones
Some vocal anti-forestry and anti-biomass activists are trying to scare the public by saying that Massachusetts forests will be clearcut if biomass plants are built. They are trying to incite fear that increased demand for biomass will cause landowners to be financially motivated to cut down all their forests. Their numbers don't add up.

Most tree farmers in Massachusetts own an average of 50 acres of forest land. Tree farmers, like others in the agricultural sector, manage their land for sustainable crop production. We "weed" low-grade and poorly growing trees to provide more space and light for the higher-quality crop trees. Proper thinning can double the growth rate of valuable trees.

To read the full story click here.

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