Book Description

"Markets for low-grade and underutilized wood are critical to the practice of good forestry and the efficient operation of the forest products industry in New Hampshire. These markets provide an outlet for wood that cannot be used for the manufacture of lumber, but that are removed during forestry operations to allow other, better quality trees to grow into high value sawlogs. A viable market for low-grade wood enhances the future of the state's forest products industry, allows for the practice of sustainable forest management, and increase the economic viability of privately owned forestland in New Hampshire ... Recognizing the importance of low-grade wood markets to New Hampshire's forest products economy, the New Hampshire Department of Resources and Economic Development commissioned a study with the goal of identifying and beginning the process of implementing one or more options to sustain these markets. The project has proceeded in two phases. The first phase evaluated a number of possible markets for low-grade wood, (using evaluation criteria that included, among others, potential market size, technical feasibility, economic feasibility, and environmental and social impacts) and identified the single option most likely to provide a market to replace the anticipated loss of several wood-fired energy plants. The second phase encompassed a detailed technical and financial analysis of this 'preferred' option, which was planned to provide the foundation for economic development activity aimed at successfully promoting development of this option in New Hampshire"--Pages [1-2].