Two woody biomass demonstration harvest workshops will be conducted in September in the Western and Eastern Upper Peninsula. The purpose of these workshops is to inform loggers, foresters, and landowners about the operational aspects of harvesting woody biomass and the ecological constraints that should be applied.

Interest in wood-based bioenergy is greatly increasing as people look for renewable and alternative forms of energy.  This is especially true in Michigan's Upper Peninsula where nearly 80% of land is in forest. This workshop, held on 10 March 2009, brought together foresters, natural resource professionals, loggers, forest industry members, conservation districts, government organizations, and others to explore the future of woody biomass utilization in the region and what that might mean for local forests, economies, and communities.

Funding for this project was provided by the National Association of Conservation Districts

The workshop agenda and copies of all presentations are available at: http://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/niacs/tools/bioenergyworkshop/

Harnessing the Power of Local Wood Energy is a community resource guide, written by Caitlin Cusack, that weaves technical information with the personal stories of community members who want to heat their local school with sustainably produced woodchips. It details how a rural community can take advantage of the cost savings of wood energy while assuring the wood is sourced and utilized in a "Sustainable, Efficient, Local, and Fair (SELF)" manner.

As the United States and other nations commit to the path of biofuels production, a group of scientists is calling for sustainable practices in an industry that will, as MBL scientist Jerry Mellilo says, "reshape the Earth's landscape in a significant way."

Increasing energy use, climate change, and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fossil fuels make switching to low-carbon fuels a high priority. Biofuels are a potential low-carbon energy source, but whether biofuels offer carbon savings depends on how they are produced. Converting rainforests, peatlands, savannas, or grasslands to produce food crop-based biofuels in Brazil, Southeast Asia, and the United States creates a "biofuel carbon debt" by releasing 17 to 420 times more CO2 than the annual greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions that these biofuels would provide by displacing fossil fuels. In contrast, biofuels made from waste biomass or from biomass grown on degraded and abandoned agricultural lands planted with perennials incur little or no carbon debt and can offer immediate and sustained GHG advantages.