Conventional Wisdoms of Woody Biomass Utilization on Federal Public Lands

Existing Framing of Biomass Use Challenges Many of the physical and economic challenges to woody biomass use are well documented with most attention paid to the consistency of feedstock supply (Lynch et al. 2000, GAO 2006a, Galik et al. 2009), harvest efficiency (Hartsough et al. 2001, Han et al. 2004, Rummer 2008), processing infrastructure (Wagner et al. 1998, Fight et al. 2004, Keegan et al. 2004), physical resource constraints of tree species (Erickson et al. 2000, Barbour et al. 2003), and market variation (Mason et al. 2006, Prestemon et al. 2008). Some information is known about the integration of these factors (Lowell et al. 2008). Less is known about how the broader suite of social factors hinders or enhances use (Hjerpe et al. 2009, Nielsen-Pincus and Moseley 2009) or the effects of different policy interventions (Aguilar and Garrett 2009, Becker et al., in press). These unknowns are inextricably linked to the success of the biomass enterprise and the ability to accomplish the broader objectives of wildfire risk reduction, economic development, and renewable energy development. Not considering them may mean adopting inaccurate or incomplete problem definitions in terms of how they manifest themselves in particular locales. In terms of solutions, they are frequently framed in terms of technological advances (GAO 2006b, Shelly et al. 2006), market innovation (Malmsheimer et al. 2008, Galik et al. 2009), or the role of federal assistance (Barbour et al. 2008, GAO 2008, Becker et al. 2009b). Each is important where public lands are concerned, but integrating them into a coherent strategy is necessary, along with considering how factors such as variation in local resource conditions, ownership patterns, existing processing or transportation infrastructure, market consistency, national and state policy frameworks, and local socioeconomic attributes and capacities shape or impede success. To advance the framing of biomass use challenges and solutions, we collected interview data in 10 study sites with ongoing federal biomass use efforts. Local participants identified a range of factors hindering or facilitating their efforts, which were used to assess collective constraints and the pervasiveness of particular conventional wisdoms.