Social availability of woody biomass on family forestland
The availability of woody biomass, as with other forest resources, is constrained by biophysical and social factors. Knowing the difference between biophysical and social availability is important for understanding what can realistically and sustainably be extracted. This study focuses on the above-ground woody biomass located in family forests in the northern United States . Family forest owners control 54% of the 7,470 million dry tons of woody biomass in this region. To estimate availability, we begin with the total resource and then superimpose constraints related to slope, drainage, site productivity, stand size, size of forest holdings, accessibility to road, harvesting restrictions, population pressure, and ownership attitudes. These constraints together reduce availability by 62 percent. The vast majority of this reduction is due to social constraints, in particular ownership attitudes. The greatest state-level reductions are in Connecticut , Delaware , Maryland , New Jersey , and Rhode Island ; all with reductions of more than 75 percent.
References
• Butler , B.J., Z. Ma, D.B. Kittredge, P. Catanzaro. Social versus biophysical availability of woody biomass in the northern United States. Submitted for publication in Northern Journal of Applied Forestry .
