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Show Stoke up that wood burning stove ' . . - r. - . . ''-' ' .. V -- .' .J- . ' , . : - . - - V I - . ' v.. -." v.; , i : ' : - . ' :-' u-., .7 v.r r,''V,.:. '. t -..-H - ;".'.:.' " ' : . . . v ; M U- -.--v." . - , - ,1. -.v. : - '. - - T . - 1 V," ' ' -V' V ' ' - V -w.fc.J ' ;,. ' - . .. : ; ,; v , i t-" .iJfiJ.C.. -& 'V.?';;;-J ftu pkWup and camper overturned resulting In tne death of Roy Black of Mexican Hat Friday TV cideent occurred on rain alk-kened U.S. 1 63 at the W. of White Mea, between I! landing ud Bluff. lAKin Reiner Photo) Wood cun hticome competitive competi-tive with othor fuel sources if it is grown in fuel pluntations-nt pluntations-nt un nccelerated rate, munag-ed munag-ed intensively, and harvested specifically as a fuel source. That is the view of an increasing number of timber experts, including Stanley L. Krugmun, timbur management manage-ment research specialist for the U.S. Forest Service, and Cluud L. Brown, a forestry professor at the University of Georgia. No one is considering going go-ing back to the Wood Age, when wood provided much of the fuel for American homes until well into the 19th century. cen-tury. But timber experts do believe that timber can provide pro-vide a major source of fuel for small power plants in carefully careful-ly sited areas throughout the land. In a background paper that Krugman prepared on fuel plantations which the Forest Service has made available av-ailable to Western Resources Wrap-up, he sluted: "A properly prop-erly located fuel plantation could supply the fuel for a small power plant on a continuous con-tinuous basis. Such plantations planta-tions could be developed in most parts of the United States and could employ over , 70 species of trees. 1 "Some trees have higher ' BTU (British Thermal Unit-a basic measure of energy) val- i ues than other trees "Some trees have higher BTU (British Thermal Unit -a basic measure of energy) val- 1 ues than other trees. . .There , are species which can be grown in each part of the ' United States for fuel on a renewable basis," Krugman stated. Among the trees with high BTU value per pound of wood are hickory, apple, locust, lo-cust, beech, elm and white oak, according to the Forest Service. By contrast, such trees as aspen and willow have low BTU values, it said. Krugman estimates there are at least 270 million acres of commercial timber in this country that could be used for energy plantations "even with current technology. By the year 1985 biomass plantations could supply 4-7 percent of the total projected energy demand. de-mand. There are at least 50 cities in which wood could be used to supplement their boiler boil-er fuels,' he said. Aa wood is low in sulfur and renewable, it could be used with high sulfur Eastern coal to reduce sulfur levels. In the West, particularly in the Pacific Northwest and California where there are geothermal (heat from within the earth) energy resources which can be readily tapped, a combination of use of the geothermal energy as the prime fuel source with tree plantations as a supplemental fuel source seems likely in the next decade. Examples of Yields Krugman cited the production produc-tion capability of trees grown in short rotations of four to eight years primarily for fuel. In the Pacific Northwest, red alder could be grown under short rotation systems and produce yields as high as 18 dry tons of wood a year. In southern Florida, eucalyptus euca-lyptus trees under conventional conven-tional growing methods are producing about 10 tons per acre per year. With new growing techniques and tree selections, this yield could be increased to 15-20 dry tons per acre per year. At Rhinelander, WU., selected selec-ted hardwoods such as poplars, pop-lars, are now producing as much as 5-7 tons of wood per acre. With new selection methods, it would be possible to double this yield. Krugman said one dry ton of wood is equal to about 1 barrel of oil in energy, based on its BTU measurement, or 128 cubic feet of wood is the equivalent of 1 ton of coal. A standard cord of wood is equal to 1 ton of coal, 240 gallons of 2 fuel oil or 30,000 cubic feet of natural gas, based on BTU measurement, according to the Forest Service. American forests are producing on the average about 36 cubic feet of merchantable wood per acre per year on the commercial stands, it estimated in 1973. Bark has a higher BTU value per pound than the wood in trees. For example, pine bark has a BTU value of 9,030 units per pound; but pine wood has a BTU value of 7,956. Oak bark's BTU value is 8,139 units, but the value of oak wood is 7,182 BTUs per pound. Fir bark has a BTU value of 8,810 units, but beech woods BTU value is 7,560 units per pound, according to the Forest Service. So, when i growing trees for energy pri- marily, foresters will be en- couraged to use as much of the tree as possible. The base of the tree, including the main root system, is more likely to be harvested in the future because it contains about 25 per cent of the energy value in a tree, on the average, Forest Service timber specialists have told WRW. A Part of Energy Needs The forest industries in this country are already providing about 27 percent of their own energy requirements through recycling and using as fuel wood, bark and extractives from their own forest operations, opera-tions, according to the University Uni-versity of Georgias Brown. "I believe that energy planta- (Continued on Page B2) Western Resources Wrap-up... (Continued From Page Bl) tions can significantly add to the amounts of energy now being produced by combustion combus-tion of forest and agricultural wastes,' Brown told the Society Soci-ety of American Foresters during its national convention two years ago. His paper was later condensed and published pub-lished by the Journal of Forestry in January, 1976. Brown told his colleagues he believed it is possible today to increase the average annual an-nual per acre production of wood in this country from 36 cubic feet by 10-15 fold, using technology already available. This is particularly true if scientific information is put to use in growing trees on good sites in regions with long growing seasons and adequate ade-quate rainfall. Brown said. Obviously he had the South and the Pacific Coast in mind. Brown's paper touched on a point rarely mentioned relative rela-tive to the energy shortage. With the nation facing a long-term oil shortage, it is also facing a loss of the feed stocks from petroleum which are the basis of a myriad of products, from paints to synthetics. syn-thetics. Tree plantations could make up for some of this loss of feed stocks, Brown indicated. indicat-ed. Using short rotations of trees, the Soviet Union and Finland and other nations with major commercial forests for-ests have been able to produce pro-duce more extractives from bark and leaves which form the base of a variety of pastes "and essential oils for all sorts of medicinal and industrial uses," Brown said. America can do the same, he added. In the scientific laboratory. it is already possible to produce pro-duce "hundreds of normal young plants or plantlets" in a few weeks from single cells or small aggregates of cells from some wood species, according to Brown. "Although no one has yet produced either conifer (evergreen) (ever-green) or hardwood plantlets from single cells in liquid culture, considerable progress is being made. Within the next few years we will undoubtedly un-doubtedly be able to clone or . reproduce vegetatively many of our forest trees in mass, ie. literally by the thousands in small culture flasks," Brown said. "Once myriads of young plants can be produced in individual flasks in the laboratory, labor-atory, they can be nursed along on nutrient-sand cultures cul-tures in growth chambers and environmentally controlled greenhouses for several weeks, then transplanted to standard seedling tubes, and outplanted to the field in few months. These relatively simple sim-ple techniques and procedures will be adaptable to modern forestry operations. "These techniques would make it possible to product the best trees of a given species, mass-propagate mass-propagate them by cloning, and planting them on those sites to which they axe best adapted, he said. Energy Plantations in Future Using methods pioneered by scientists working with tobacco cells, horticulturists may be able to extend the present range of genetic variation vari-ation in cultured cells in tree species. Brown stated. This should make it possible to produce trees which have higher BTU value, faster growth, better form, a shorter reproductive cycle and are more disease and insect-resistant than the species of trees now mass-produced on tree farms, according to Brown. "Millions of acres of average and above-average sites axe suitable and currently available avail-able for energy plantations throughout the timbered regions re-gions of America," he observed. observ-ed. There is some concern within with-in the industry that if such energy plantations proved to be profitable, there will be fewer top growing sites for the long rotations needed for sawtimber, veneer, poles and other natural forest products. Brown indicated. Energy plantations would also be monoculture "in the strictest sense," he said. Environmentalist Environmen-talist generally frown on monoculture, mon-oculture, so energy plantations planta-tions are likely to present more political than scientific problems. Both U.S. Forest Service timber management research experts and scientists believe scientific problems relating to energy plantations are already al-ready being solved. Once a-gain, a-gain, it's a question whether the best tree growing sites in this country will be reserved reserv-ed for tree-growing. NOTES John W. Neuberger, who has been chairman of the Missouri River Basin Com mission headquartered in Om-' aha, has become the new1, Jft director of the Nebraska DeA partment of Water Resources. The White House is expected XHi to name a new chairman of the y'JP' Commission before the end of Bit' the year. ,,iSv , hem ; Ao The Pacific Northwest Riv. V"! er Basins Commission has ' announced its draft report on a regional program for water' ?'- and related resources for the ?f f Pacific Northwest is available ( r. for public review. Following IT ' public hearings, the report" ' will be put in final form by the " Commission and it will devel-',R jtf op what it calls a "regional? Rot priorities package to imple-ment imple-ment the findings of theru planning report. hem , -J Some 25,000 customers of the Public Service Co. of j , Colorado have put in attic insulation for the first time or j have added to their attic' (Z insulation since PSCC started1, 7 its attic insulation program1 two years ago, according to y the Company. It has advisediJJ more than 54,000 customers . ' about home insulation since it: 5 started its energy conserv-1" tion program in 1975. Jack R. Reed, a company vice presi-;:3eD. dent, recently told Western' Resources Wrap-up during i- . Washington briefing that he7 was pleased with the response that the utility had received inre its efforts to assure more! efficient use of electricity in m the home. -'f roll. bem Action taken by the federsf government to try to impose " the 160-acre limitation and the residency requirements of the 1902 law. Briefing officers told, rj the press the 1902 act's pro; , visions would apply to com- mingled .state and federal water, at the time the Interior Department announced its de-; cision to enforce the law on" . Aug. 22. Meanwhile, the U.S Department of Agriculture is making a review of what the ' size of a family-sized farm': Jce should be in today's world to -jr.: assure its economic survival. 2 |