Forest-Based Biomass Basic Computations - Mathematics and Statistics for the Environment - page 323

13 Forest-Based Biomass

Basic Computations

Wood is still the largest biomass energy resource today.

—NREL (2010)

13.1 INTRODUCTION *
Cu r rently, forest and grassland in the United States totals 747 million acres. Approximately 554
million acres are owned and managed by private land owners. The remaining forest acreage, 193
million acres, which is an area equivalent to the size of Texas, is managed by the U.S. Forest
Service. Established in 1905, the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of
Agriculture. Whether they are privately or publicly owned, managing, maintaining, and sustaining
U.S. forests and grasslands occupy a large and growing segment of work performed by professional
environmental practitioners.
Most people understand that forest management activities include providing wood (obviously,
the most famous product from the forest) and lesser known but still important non-timber produce,
such as medicinal plants, honey, fruits, and bushment, but many are not really aware of less visible
but still important reasons for maintaining forests:

• Forests deliver all kind of ecosystem services. Forests play an important role in the global
and local water cycle. Forests attract rain water, purify water, and regulate water flows. In
some areas, relief trees protect against erosion.
• Forests inluence local climate. Depending on latitude, forests inluence the temperature in
a region. On a global level, forests stabilize climate by regulating energy and water cycles.
• Forests have cultural, religious, and spiritual signiicance; for example, sacred forests are
often left untouched or are protected.
• Forests are extremely important in maintaining biodiversity.
• Forests provide feedstock (biomass) for renewable energy production.

The U.S. Forest Service's mission is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the
nation's forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations, including moni-
toring, protecting, and ensuring biomass feedstock supply for bioenergy production. The Forest
Service professional is not a Paul Bunyan wielding a gigantic ax nor a steel-helmeted lumberjack
chain-sawing immense portions of northern forest lands. Quite to the contrary, environmental pro-
fessionals involved in forestry work, whether public or private, are highly educated practitioners
who typically serve as park rangers, historians, forestry aides and technicians, forest firefighters,
fishing guides, surveyors, researchers, and hydrologists, among many other potential functions.
Moreover, because of current cultural and socioeconomic conditions, Forest Service professionals
are also called upon to protect forest users, forest resources, USFS employees, and public property
from criminals.

* Material presented in this chapter is adapted from Spellman, F.R., Forest-Based Biomass Energy: Concepts and
Applications , CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, 2012.

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