Utilization of Landing Piles

 

1. Name - Utilization of Landing Piles

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In the third project from the Klamath Falls Resource Area, "Utilization of Residual Timber Sale Landings", the BLM is using the stewardship contract to utilize old timber sale landing piles instead of burning them. This case study is an example of how a stewardship contract can be used in a flexible manner to address issues beyond standard harvests.

The project focuses on residual landings from 3,000 to 4,000 acres of commercial timber sales. The timber sale purchaser is not required to remove the landing debris, hence the BLM is taking care of the issue through the stewardship contractor at a subsidized rate. Material has been removed from approximately 50 to 100 landings so far, and more than 100 more landings have been tasked out. Two task orders have been issued: the first one in 2006 for 8,000 tons, and the second in 2007 for 10,000 tons.


The material is from mixed conifer and ponderosa pine stands. Residual timber sale landing material includes tops, culls, and submerchantable material that was cut and yarded concurrently with the cutting and yarding of commercial sawlogs. Under the timber sale, whole tree yarding is required, so thousands of tops were brought to the landing that did not meet commercial sawlog specifications. Approximately 1 to 4 tons of biomass in the form of non-sawlog material were generated from each acre of timber sale. Whole tree yarding is required to reduce the risk of adding fuels to the timber stand. By biomassing the landing piles, overall fuel loading is reduced, as are smoke emissions.

Instead of burning residual landing material, it is utilized as either clean chips or hog fuel. The BLM is encouraged to reduce smoke emissions when and where feasible. In some areas, other agencies do not have to subsidize the removal of such material, but are auctioning residual landing piles and getting $0.20 per CCF. In this case, the BLM receives $0.10 per ton for the material.

Contractors must have grinding equipment to grind the slash into certain sizes acceptable to the biomass plants. There are six biomass plants within a 250-mile radius. The furthest distance hauled to date has been to a plant in Anderson, California—about 250 miles. The biomass was carried as a "back haul" by a company transporting clean chip to Klamath Falls. The back haul allowed the vans to return with a transportable product instead of going back empty. The government subsidy rate varies from $15 to $23 per ton, depending upon haul distance and market. Hauling costs are approximately $2 per mile.

There has been a market for biomass in the surrounding area since late 1980, when northern California constructed a number of biomass plants.  A large biomass plant exists in Medford as well. The Klamath Falls Resource Area has been promoting biomass utilization since 1993, when it started requiring submerchantable thinning concurrent with commercial timber sale operations. It also required residual landing material to be hauled away as biomass for utilization.

• Lakeview District of the Bureau of Land Management