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Timber could be used for ethanol, wafer board-How to use deadwood is academic’s question

Thinning forests costs money — although not as much as losing a
home to a forest fire — and researchers want to find a way to
make the practice pay off.

By Deborah Frazier, Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer

In theory, the millions of tons of trees, limbs and wood debris
removed from privately owned and government forests could
make money if sold for rustic log furniture, landscape timber,
mulch and chips to replace coal.

Dennis Lynch, a professor emeritus in forestry at Colorado State
University, is looking into ways to make forest-trimming a
money-making proposition.

"We’ve been working on finding markets for those small-diameter
trees," Lynch said.

The market is good for logs and scrap wood in southwest and
southern Colorado, where mills produce excelsior packing, garden
bed trim and furniture.

But along Colorado’s Front Range, where mills have closed, only a
few buyers exist.

"At this point the homeowner should be prepared to pay for the
costs of removing trees and branches," Lynch said. "Right now,
the products are not paying for the cutting or transportation."

Lynch said the cost of removing fire fuel from an acre runs $500 to
$2,000, depending on terrain, transportation costs and access to
the property. The costs drop to $225 to $500 an acre if the wood
is mulched and left.

His project, funded by several agencies, is looking at everything
from horse bedding to small log cabins to mixing wood chips with
sludge and animal waste to make compost.

Colorado imports 90 percent to 95 percent of all wood products
used in the state, Lynch said.

"The best thing is to make a product from the forest trimming,"
said Gary Jones of the Colorado Timber Industry Association. "And
you don’t need to take all of the trees out of the forest."

Jones said the timber also could be used to make ethanol, wafer
board and other commercial products.

"Wafer board is more profitable than raw logs," Jones said.

There’s a catch, however. To build an excelsior factory or
waferboard mill, investors would want a guaranteed long-term
supply — 10 to 50 years, Jones and Lynch said. But enthusiasm for
fuel reduction rarely lasts more than a few years after a
catastrophic fire, which makes a long-term supply of wood
impossible.

On the other hand, replacing a home lost to a fire costs far more
than thinning and landscaping for protection.

"Look at the costs for the Buffalo Creek Fire," Jones said, citing
the 1996 fire that cost $17 million in firefighting and lost property.
"Less money could have been spent to get rid of the fuel."

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/state/article/0,1299,DRMN_21_1129452,00.html

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