On our site is about 30.4 acres in which we are going to do a demonstration clear cut and replanted with white pine 2.5ac, a row thining 1.6ac, and an uneven aged stand. At each demonsrtration area there will also be a sign describing what was done there with before and after pictures. The stand is located on the west side of the resivor from the bend in the road to the parking lot. From the data we collected we have about $5000 of timber that will be cut. We will also be replacing existing culverts with 14in dia pipe.
Site Gama for the Management Plan
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At the SAF meeting Dr. Charles Ray talked about bio-energy - A growing opportunity. In this he said that some of the best trees to be used as a bio mass are hybrid poplars, willows, yellow-poplar, American sycamore, and American chestnut. The reason these trees are liked is because of their traits as a clonal species with fast height growth.
In his mind cellulosic ethanol is not the future right now because the technology to be efficient in the production is not ready yet. He said that the main goal should be wood as energy or heating uses. with the 600 million dry tons of unused wood we could make 300 million 50lb bags of wood pellets, and that could heat 3 million homes, or be used for 600 district projects.
Now this wood that is being talked about is low use wood or not lumber or furniture grade. This kind of wood right now makes up about 55% or the timber in Pa.
First of all what is it. Cellulosic ethanol is taking logging slash and stuff of woody nature and making a fuel that will work as an alternative to fossil fuels. This process is done by placing the woody debris into a large tank that is then heated up and pressurized to turn it into a gas form, then the synthetic gas is treated and passed through a chemical catalyst which converts the gas into an alcohol gas, and finally that alcohol gas is turned into a liquid to be used in cars.
Right now every state is talking about making one of these plants or something like to be the first state to have no dependence on fossil fuels. There is a company in Georgia right now that has plans to build a plant next month and it would be completed next year. They claim that they will be capable of making 20 million gallons of ethanol a year, and then intend to expand to 100 million gallons per year. But that is only a small number compared to how many gallons of foreign oil we use every day.
The reason that this is so interesting is that there is no extra care that needs to be done. Logging will take place no matter what, it’s not like growing corn where you have to water, and highly care for the plants to grow. There is less intense labor in the process of growing trees and that will keep the cost down of this ethanol unlike the corn where the price has been driven up because of food consumption and ethanol production.
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-6202328.html
http://www.ethanol-gec.org/information/briefing/20a.pdf
http://www.daviesand.com/Perspectives/Forest_Products/Ethanol/
