PRODUCT MARKETS for SHORT-ROTATION FORESTRY
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Short-rotation forestry products vary and can be used in multiple markets. Deciding which forest products to grow will depend upon available acreage, available investment funds for establishment, planting density, harvest rotation times, and distance to markets (Table 1).
Table 1. Summary of short-rotation forestry products for comparison of different basic requirements and potential markets.
TRADITIONAL FOREST PRODUCTS
TRADITIONAL FOREST PRODUCTS
Traditional forest products, such as pulp for paper, utility wood for furniture construction, and veneer for plywood, are produced from natural stands of hardwoods that require harvest rotations of 35 to 60 years or longer. In contrast, short-rotation forestry allows production of these materials within 10 to 20 years which can reduce the need to harvest natural stands. Desired wood products can be produced more quickly on less land that can be located closer to industry. Managed poplar plantations successfully produced veneer for hardwood plywood. Veneer, a high-value wood product, is produced by creating thin sheets of wood. Higher valued exterior veneer (e.g. maple, walnut, oak, and birch) can be glued onto core wood, such as poplars, to make furniture or cabinets; poplar veneer can be glued in layers to make plywood. North Carolina has a robust hardwood plywood industry that has demonstrated great interest in plantation-grown poplars. North Carolina’s designation as the “Furniture Capital of the World” positions short-rotation forestry as an alternative supply chain for furniture, construction, composites, and paper products.
Who makes money and how? Landowners will typically be paid stumpage by timber buyers or directly from the mill through procurement foresters employed by the mill.
Preferred species/clones. Fast-growing hardwoods that produce straight trunks, are free of bark lesions, and are self-pruning. Specific clones of poplars are an excellent choice for these characteristics and have been grown and milled in North Carolina.
Rotation length. 6 to 20 years
Spacing. 500 to 600 trees per acre for veneer (Figure 6). Poplar offers an inter-cropping regime that produces both high quality veneer and biomass for paper or energy. Veneer poplar trees can be planted with poplar biomass trees at 1,000 trees per acre. The inter-cropping minimizes weed competition and promotes self-pruned trees for quality veneer logs. The biomass clones can be harvested in 6 to 8 years for paper or energy and the veneer trees are harvested at 12 to 20 years (Figure 7).
Figure 6. Hybrid poplar tree stand managed for veneer (left) and poplar log processed to veneer (right top and bottom).
Figure 7. Illustration of Populus veneer trees interplanted with designated fiber trees, showing marketable products from each. Hardwood trees must have at least nine feet of trunk with at least nine inches of inside-bark-diameter on the narrow end to be harvested and sold for veneer production.
ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES
ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES
Description of products. Short-rotation forestry can be used for environmental services such as phytoremediation, land reclamation, site stabilization, and carbon sequestration. Short-rotation trees can absorb some types of contaminants, degrade them, sequester them, or release them to the atmosphere. Short-rotation forestry trees may not be the only species capable of providing environmental services, but their fast growth rates are often desirable to achieve environmental services quicker than other tree species. There are numerous books, websites, and research that support phytoremediation. Various plant systems can be used to mitigate chemical contamination for salts, metals, radioactive elements, petroleum, and nitrogen. Short-rotation forestry has been used to clean up petroleum spills in the ground and groundwater, treat municipal wastewater and other industrial wastewaters such as landfill leachate, reclaim mining lands, and stabilize fragile soils. Short-rotation forestry opportunities are as diverse as the problems needing a solution (Figure 8).
Who makes money and how? Environmental companies often contract with others to establish and maintain short-rotation forests for environmental services. There is an emphasis on rapid achievement of the desired environmental service; hence, more expensive establishment and maintenance methods may be used, particularly if traditional planting approaches are not feasible. Whips, 3 to 6 foot cuttings, or container trees may be planted to reach more quickly hydraulic control of groundwater.
Preferred clones. Professional expertise and experience is needed to make appropriate choices of which tree species or clone to plant for specific site needs. Poplars have been widely used for various environmental services due to their rapid growth and ability to impact hydraulic control of near-surface groundwater (Figure 9). See USEPA Phytoremediation Resource Guide.
Rotation length. Rotation length is not relevant because trees are established for specific services rather than for harvest. Weed control and thinning are suggested.
Spacing. Denser plantings of 1,000 to 2,000 trees per acre.
Minimum operable size. Economic success does not depend on acreage but achieving environmental service goals, such as mitigation of contamination to below regulatory requirements, or rapid stabilization of fragile soils.
Special considerations. Tree species selection, establishment, and management are site-specific and situation-specific.
Figure 8. Poplar stand controlling subsurface plumes of fuels at the U. S. Coast Guard Training Facility, Elizabeth City, North Carolina (NC State & NC Department of Environmental Quality - 319 Program).
Figure 9. Trees used for phytoremediation. From United States Environmental Protection Agency A Citizen’s Guide to Phytoremediation
BIOENERGY
BIOENERGY
Description of products. Bioenergy is an umbrella-term for any technology making energy from recently living plant tissue. Emerging end-uses for short-rotation forestry includes chipped fuel for power or steam production, using boilers or gasifiers, or chipped fuel for conversion to liquid fuels known as biofuels. North Carolina has a Renewable Electricity Mandate that requires certain utility companies to use renewable power sources, including wood biomass-based energy (Figure 10), for a percentage of their production. Whole trees or chipped trees can potentially be used to make wood pellets for pellet stoves or for overseas power plants. The overall potential for bioenergy from short-rotation forestry depends on market price trends for petroleum and energy subsidizing policies. Experts contend that short-rotation hardwood forests will have the highest stumpage value for conversion to biofuels. Experts disagree on the efficacy of wood pellet or biofuel production as a renewable energy to holistically reduce carbon emissions and whether procurement harvest rotations allow production forests enough time to assimilate carbon dioxide emitted by burning wood pellets or biofuels.
Figure 10. Wood chips for use as fuel for an eastern North Carolina power plant.
Who makes money and how? Typically landowners receive stumpage as an on-the-stump price paid by a feedstock supplier.
Preferred species/clones. Short-rotation tree species/clones where stem form does not matter.
Rotation length. 3 to 12 years, depending on spacing and expected harvesting technology. Very short rotations will require specialized biomass harvesters. Longer rotations (5 to 12 years) will require conventional forestry harvesting systems which remove tree stems and chip them on-site, or haul logs to facilities.
Spacing. 2,000 to 3,000 trees per acre for 3-year to 4-year rotations and 1,000 trees per acre for 6-year to 12-year rotations.
Special considerations. Harvesting systems must be determined to plan rotation length and spacings.
HORTICULTURE
HORTICULTURE
Description of products. Candidate tree species for short-rotation forests are not the dominant horticultural or ornamental tree species available at commercial nurseries or major retail garden shops. They are available from private and state nurseries for landscaping and restoration projects. B&B (“balled and burlap”) short-rotation candidate trees are used for landscaping, green fencing, or “live stakes” more so in the Midwest than in the southeastern United States.
Who makes money and how? Nursery sells B&B material to landscapers.
Preferred clones. Those with long life, strong trunks, and shade producing.
Rotation length. 1 to 3 years.
Spacing. Conventional nursery spacing.
Special considerations. Demand driven by local markets. Poplar can be ordered by mail from commercial nurseries in the Midwest and western United States.
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