Opinion: A forester supports North Springfield biomass plant

There will be more firewood available, not less, as a result of the proposed North Springfield Sustainable Energy Project (NSSEP) plant.
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A forester supports North Springfield biomass plant The writer works as a private consulting forester. Share on facebook Share on twitter Share on email Share on print More Sharing Services 1 Originally published in The Commons issue #199 (Wednesday, April 17, 2013). RE: “Much worse than your woodstove” [Voices, April 10]: So, you want Vermonters to voice their opinion about biomass? You’ve got all the forestry stuff incorrect. To keep it short: There will be more firewood available, not less, as a result of the proposed North Springfield Sustainable Energy Project (NSSEP) plant. Loggers get more (approximately $35-$40 for firewood logs) for firewood than chips (approximately $30 per ton, delivered), without the chipping cost. So they sort out the firewood logs. Yes, there will be more logging activity, and more logs and firewood will be available because of that. Chipping is a great forestry tool, allowing us to get the junk out of the forests. Local forests are full of junk trees (123 tons per acre, average statewide, and 51 percent of that is not “growing stock”). Typical partial cutting (not clear-cutting) gives about 50 tons per acre, so about 6,000 acres per year will be improved by this logging method. No one wants to chip their good trees — this is weeding the garden. There is enough junk wood within 30 miles to feed this plant for 100 years, without counting growth. New regulations are being written now to retain a certain amount of debris for chip-logging, and Vermont laws protect water quality, wildlife habitat, etc. This process will send about $30,000 per day into the local area for energy chips, instead of sending energy money away. This money would go to loggers, truckers, foresters, and landowners. Take a look at Google Earth around Ryegate, Vt. to see if the forests are destroyed after 20 years of chipping. We currently do chipping jobs in this area, but we have to truck the chips all that way. Landowners love chipping jobs! Robbo Holleran, Chester WHAT DO YOU THINK? LEAVE US A COMMENT Editor’s note: Our terms of service require you to use your real names. We will remove anonymous or pseudonymous comments that come to our attention. We rely on our readers’ personal integrity to stand behind what they say; please do not write anything to someone that you wouldn’t say to his or her face without your needing to wear a ski mask while saying it. Thanks for doing your part to make your responses forceful, thoughtful, provocative, and civil. We also consider your comments for the letters column in the print newspaper.