BIOMASS ENERGY FOR MARYLAND

Using this organic, locally sourced byproduct of forest management has an endless list of benefits, whether it’s used as a renewable thermal energy feedstock or for other forestry products like biochar soil amendment or wood composite building materials. 

With Maryland’s forests increasing in density, creating a market for woody biomass is important to encourage thinning and timber stand improvement cuts. Cutting the smaller trees at the right time and spacing helps concentrate growth on the larger and better-quality trees, part of a well-balanced approach to carbon sequestration that can stand the test of time. Well-spaced trees and selection of resilient species are important strategies for helping our forests adapt to stressors from climate change. Without woody biomass markets and as remaining markets such as pulpwood decline in the Maryland area, these practices that are so important to forest health and climate resilience are less likely to occur. The woody biomass markets take advantage of locally grown and harvested renewable fuels, a plus for a viable rural economy. They also help make these practices important for forest health within reach of all landowners, a plus for equity concerns as well as forest health. 

Woody biomass only gets used for fuel if it’s cheap, and demand shifts to other fuels if prices rise. Although wood is abundant in Maryland and our forests grow significantly more than is reduced by harvesting and natural mortality. Mortality rates are increasing as many of the state’s forests age, and thinning helps maintain higher growth rates for longer. An established biomass market and its subsequent financial impact would make thinning projects more feasible and affordable for landowners. 

Even after a thinning or timber stand improvement, some dead and downed wood is left for its ecological function as wildlife habitat and adding to organic matter of the soil horizon. Modern fire suppression to keep communities safe also means that the fires that used to thin trees out now rarely occur. Active forest management is used to keep dominant native species and thin out the trees to spacing that better stimulates growth. Thinning also can remove diseased and damaged trees that otherwise could spread forest pests and pathogen. In times of a changing climate and extreme weather swings, including devastating drought, encouraging biomass harvesting and more moderate density, less crowded forest stands will leave landowners with a healthier forest and a sustainable long-term source of land management-based revenue. 

All of this management for biomass will, in turn, manage wildfire risk by reducing the fuel load and turning it into a forestry product, spurring more proactive wildfire management. Wood energy could be harnessed from what normally would be left to waste away or be a possible factor in increased fire intensity, leading to further loss in the landscape. 

With climate change concerns and a global push for fossil-free energy sources, woody biomass provides a local and renewable alternative that grows wildlife habitat and water quality in its “factory”. Modern technology allows wood to be clean and efficient, addresses concerns stemming from earlier eras of wood heat. Even clean energy options like solar and wind power require the mining of metals as part of panel and turbine manufacturing. 

Wood energy is carbon neutral, and tree cover tends to expand as market incentives reward growing trees. As a climate adaptation/forest management tool, the successional, regenerative practice of forest biomass harvesting would involve continual planting reinforcement and development of longer, more active life-cycle carbon sinks in the form of young, growing forest stands in combination with retention of older stands with high storage but low growth. Carbon sequestration is a key part of today’s restoration approaches and woody biomass as a renewable energy source is our best avenue to a net reduction in direct carbon emissions when compared to oil, natural gas or propane. 

Though forests are Maryland’s largest carbon sink, U.S. Forest Service Forest Inventory & Analysis (FIA) data (link to FIA data) shows increasing mortality rates and MD forests growing several times more than harvested or lost to mortality. Thinning and using this underutilized resource allows for underplanting and regeneration of the forest floor, with newly growing seedlings and saplings starting a decades to centuries long ecological function of carbon sequestration. In addition to acting as a natural approach to carbon capture, diverting woody biomass that could be headed to the landfill will lessen methane emissions due to reduction in decomposing organic matter going to waste and taking up space at the landfill. 

Environmentally and economically, woody biomass used as a renewable thermal energy source is a market that could really make a difference. Maryland would achieve its own energy independence with this organic, homegrown resource, creating jobs and boosting our sagging industry. With a continual cycle of planting, harvesting, collecting and transporting woody biomass, a sizable and sustainable labor force and injection of capital into local economies would create a forestry products market with long-lasting impact.