Material Supply

Phase Two: Determining the Local and Regional Material Supply

Core Questions:

• What will a scaled-up, sustainable, and holistic treatment approach generate as accessible forest material for each value chain from each forest and region?
• What is needed to harvest and transport this material volume?

Dialogue Questions:

1. What GIS map layers are needed to inform this opportunity?
   1. All forests
   2. Each forest harvesting volume by tree type and size, and ancillary material type and volume
   3. Local logging companies
   4. Timber product sorting facilities
   5. Wood product processors and mills
   6. Wood products manufacturers
   7. Roads, highways, rail sidings, lines, and yards
      1. Operating or potential for reactivation
   8. Container terminals and ports and their wood products capabilities
   9. Export fumigation facilities
   10. Transportation service providers
   11. Political jurisdictions, i.e., county and municipal borders
2. What are the value streams to evaluate?
   1. Cants
   2. Lumber
   3. Wood Pellets
   4. Wood Chips
   5. Mulch
   6. Animal bedding/shavings
   7. Compost
   8. Firewood
   9. Vigas
   10. Specialty Wood Products
       1. Flooring
       2. Furniture
       3. Fence posts
   11. Treated Posts
   12. Latillas (Wood stays)
   13. OSB and other stranded material
       1. Oriented strand board
       2. Wood wool cement
       3. Carbon fiber-reinforced plastics
   14. Wood mass to biochar
   15. Wood mass to energy
   16. Secondary processing
   17. Recreation
   18. Ecosystem services
   19. Agriculture
       1. Grazing
       2. Water supply
   20. Fire mitigation
   21. Carbon credits
   22. Federal and state funding
3. What are the silvicultural prescriptions and feedstock volumes?
   1. What is the current status of the state’s stand-based inventory?
   2. What entity owns and manages each forest stand, i.e., federal, state, county, tribal, or private?
   3. What types of trees and sizes, including species, age, health, stand structure, and photosynthetic activity?
   4. What are the slopes and aspects (direction)?
   5. What percentage of the forest is burned or likely to burn soon?
   6. What is the stand's current condition and its anticipated condition/deterioration over the coming months while harvesting activity can be scaled up?
   7. What cultural, ecological, and hydrological values need to be addressed?
   8. What is the current forest management plan for the entire forest, and is it current?
   9. What is the current forest management plan for each stand, and is it up to date?
   10. What activity is going on in each forest? What species are harvested? Who is currently harvesting each forest? How does each entity type approach its forestry management activities?
   11. Which stands are not being managed to meet the forest restoration goals, particularly overstocking?
   12. Where is the current forest composition relative to historic baseline conditions?
   13. What was the historic range of species variation, and how do we move closer to those conditions?
   14. What is the silvicultural prescription?
   15. What are the species, tree sizes, log volumes, and logging residues to be removed based on the silvicultural prescription?
   16. What quantity and type of byproducts (e.g., forest slash) are generated at each forest? Are they shipped, and if so, where and how?
   17. What quantity and type of waste products are generated at each forest, and how and where are they disposed of?
   18. What are the most significant unmet opportunities?
   19. What material and volumes from each stand need new market solutions?
   20. Which entities are best positioned to conduct the harvesting activities in each forest?
4. How do the feedstock volumes add up at the regional level?
   1. How does each stand relate to other stands in the region so that the aggregate regional volume of common material is identified?
5. How do in-forest logistics assets determine accessibility for harvesting?
   1. What are the roads in each forest stand, and what entity owns and maintains those roads?
   2. What are the legal guidelines for road use, construction, and maintenance?
   3. What are these roads’ conditions, how has fire damaged them, and how are they vulnerable?
   4. What work is needed on which roads for accessibility to treat forests?
   5. What are the seasonal characteristics of the availability of these roads?
   6. What are the characteristics of the critical infrastructure elements in the forest? What do we have? What’s missing?
   7. Where are new roads and cleared land needed to render forest material removal viable?
   8. Given the characteristics and regulations of the in-forest logistics, what percentage of the forest stands are physically accessible?
   9. What solutions do we want to develop to access more of the forest?
   10. Which entities are best positioned to conduct the transportation activities from each forest?
6. What is the composition of the regional infrastructure for forest materials’ logistics?
   1. What is the region’s publicly accessible road network?
   2. What is the general condition of forest road access?
   3. What are these area roads' and bridges' weight, clearance, and safety restrictions?
   4. Where are the existing railroad main lines, branch lines, spur lines, sidings, and loading infrastructure?
   5. Where are the existing rail- and truck-served infrastructure assets for transload, distribution, and storage?
   6. Who owns each facility and network section, and what services and capacities do they have?
   7. Where can new truck and rail loading facilities enhance forestry operations and minimize transportation costs and impacts?
   8. Are these new developments commercially viable, or do they need public subsidization?
7. What existing and new capacity is needed for short- and long-term harvesting?
   1. Which entities are best positioned to conduct harvesting activities in each forest?
   2. What new resources or support does each entity need?
8. What are the performance characteristics and costs of available equipment types for harvesting, in-forest logistics, and regional transportation?
   1. What are the harvesting equipment choices?
   2. What are the transportation equipment choices?
      1. What are the specifications of the loaders and trucks that can be utilized in each stand in support of each material-removal activity?
      2. What are the equipment costs for each vehicle type?
      3. What is the status of diesel-alternative energy technology for each vehicle type?
   3. What new collaborative pooling of harvesting and transportation equipment improves the financial viability of scaled-up harvesting and logistics?