Key Takeaways

• More lignified materials exhibit less anaerobic degradation in landfills.
• No significant degradation was observed in wood samples, with the exception of oriented strand board (OSB) and Red Oak.
• The carbon conversion of wood under landfill conditions is well below the recommended assumption in the 2006 IPCC Guidance.

Key Takeaways:

• There was a significant difference in methane generation between hardwood and softwood species, even though cellulose concentrations were similar.
• This may be because lignin polymers in hardwood species have lower structural integrity and are typically more easily degraded in chemical processes than softwood lignin.
• Hardwoods contain both syringyl and guaiacl lignin units, while softwoods contain only guaiacyl lignin.

Key Takeaways:

• Land managers expressed anxiety about accelerating the pace and scale of forest restoration, with one respondent noting “honestly, we are on borrowed time.”
• The primary objectives noted by respondents were to reduce hazard fuels (60% of respondents) and protect/promote habitat for wildlife (50% of respondents).
• Respondents expressed that “if a market were available to take woody biomass material, they would. almost always use it.”

Key Takeaways:

• 27,876 bone dry tonnes (BDT) of biomass was economically available within 50 miles of Taos, NM, at a delivered cost of between $36.25-51.25/BDT
• The authors estimate that forest restoration activities generate 6 BDT of woody biomass per acre treated for pinyon-juniper forests, and an average of 8.5 BDT per acre treated for mixed conifer and ponderosa pine.
• Treating 15-20,000 acres of woodlands would generate 120,000 BDT of woody biomass. There are 3,026,412 acres of woodlands in the survey area, implying a total of 18.2 Million BDT available within 50 acres of Taos, NM.

Key Takeaways:

• The cost of forest fuel reduction treatments ranged from $620/acre to $1,627/acre.
• Using a cut-to-length logging system to harvest biomass in Arizona produced costs that were nearly 11 times those for sawlog harvests.
• Integrating biomass harvesting with logging operations led to costs that were 35% lower per tonne of woody biomass.

Key Takeaways:

• Forest land, harvested wood products, and urban trees collectively represent the largest carbon sink in the United States, offsetting more than 11% of national GHG emissions.
• Roughly 2.7 billion metric tonnes of dead wood are estimated to be present in forests.
• Forested lands in Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming are among the few that do not sequester C02 on a net basis.

Key Takeaways:

• Forests in the western united states have shown considerably increased mortality related to drought stress, insects, and fires.
• There was a large carbon sink increase in boreal deadwood caused by natural disturbances in Siberia and Canada.
• Warmer winters in boreal regions reduce the forest sink through suppressed gross primary production, increased fires, and increased insect damage.