WOOD ENERGY PLANTATIONS
By Bill Cook
 MSU Extension Service Forester

Wood energy plantations may be a common landscape feature of the future. Or not.

On the positive side, better-controlled wood quality can be grown closer to wood energy mills. Volumes per acre are several times higher than natural forests. Transportation costs can be substantially reduced, which are a large part of the cost of wood procurement.

On the negative side, plantations are expensive and the necessary commercial infrastructure and technology have yet to be developed. At this time, few markets are available to purchase plantation-grown wood. Also, resistance to insects and diseases becomes more important when planting large areas of genetically similar stock. Many wood energy production systems perform better by using wood with a particular set of specifications. Growing mill-tailored wood may be a viable option, similar to the large wood plantations in central Minnesota that help feed a pulp and paper mill. There many other examples across the USA and worldwide. Doing the research to figure out which genetic mix grows best on particular sites will be critical in achieving economic viability.

In Michigan, there are about 8 million acres of retired farmland. A portion of that farmland may be eligible for wood energy plantations. This puts land back to work and could help support a growing Michigan industry. It’s unlikely that natural forest would be converted to plantations.

Varieties of willow and poplar currently appear to be the most likely candidates. Poplar may yield more useable wood than willow over time and offer the opportunity for other products. On the other hand, willow rotations occur about every three years and poplar rotations every 8-10 years. An investor may see some return in less time with willow.

Poplar can be harvested with currently technology. Willow will need to have a different technology imported and modified. Both species require specialized planting and tending technology. And, of course, commercial production of planting stock will need to be ramped-up. Both species are planted using branch segments (eight-inch sticks), not seed.

Establishing a wood energy plantation involves a process and spacing more similar to agricultural crops than to forestry. However, after the first year or two, inputs will be minimal for several decades, unlike the annual inputs for agriculture.

The need for special machinery and skills might be met by a new breed of contractor, or maybe a cooperative. Few landowners will be able to afford the expense of their own planting and harvesting machinery.

Wood is one form of cellulosic plant material. Cellulose is the main structural ingredient of plants. Agricultural residues may provide additional cellulosic feedstock. So might specially-grown crops such as switchgrass, Miscanthus, and other grasses. Depending upon the needs of a particular energy producer, agricultural feedstocks offer opportunities, too.

However, agricultural crops have higher ash and chemical content. They are also available only certain times of the year, or need to be stored, which would be an additional cost. Annual crops require fairly high annual energy and chemical inputs. Perennial grasses have inputs more similar to wood energy plantations.

Wood energy research has been ongoing for decades, but the pace, urgency, and budgets have increased over the past few years. Both MSU and MTU are involved with wood energy plantation research, as well as cooperators across North America and from several European nations. Research plantations dot the landscape across much of the state. The first commercial plantation in Michigan was established in 2009 in Marquette County. The drive to reduce fossil fuel consumption will likely include wood energy among the various replacement technologies. And, wood is one of the options for which Michigan holds trump cards.

Bill Cook is an MSU Extension forester providing educational programming for the entire Upper Peninsula. His office is located at the MSU Upper Peninsula Tree Improvement Center near Escanaba.

BLACK LOCUST GOOD WOOD OR WEED?
 By Bill Botti

 The black locust tree was found only in the U.S. Southeast in presettlement times, but was moved into the midwest as a source of fence posts and firewood by migrating farmers. It has a lot going for it: the wood is strong and hard and resistant to decay. The roots add nitrogen to the soil. It grows on a variety of sites and grows fast in most places. What’s not to like about that?

Plenty, according to some. The black locust is on Michigan’s list of invasive tree species, along with Norway maple, tree of heaven, European alder and Russian olive. True, it is aggressive once it becomes established, and it is difficult to eradicate, but should it rank among our ecological enemies? Here are some of the arguments:

The flowers that appear in the late spring / early summer are sweet-smelling and attractive to bees. That sounds good, but detractors fear the presence of locust may dilute the ability of our bees to pollinate more important crops.

As a member of the pea family, black locust carries nitrogen-fixing bacteria in nodules on its roots. Adding nitrogen to the soil sounds good, too, but critics fear it will upset the nutrient balance in the soil.

Locust detractors cite the presence of this non-native species in forest stands across the state as evidence of its invasive nature. But it is very much intolerant of shade; normal forest management activities should be able to weed it out over time, with little chance of it reproducing in the shade of the managed forest.

Where it seems to cause problems with its invasiveness is in places where land managers are trying to create prairie or savannah- like conditions. Locust is indeed a tough customer in such places – it spreads through its root system and sends up new suckers continually. Burning serves only to stimulate more sprouting; most chemical treatments are hard on desired plants as well.

Managing for black locust is made difficult by the locust borer, a long-horned wood borer native to the United States. This insect tunnels through the wood, destroying any commercial value and eventually killing the tree. Control of the borer is difficult because it spends most of its life cycle inside the wood.

Last September, the Great Lakes Timber Professionals Association magazine published an article explaining the reasons for listing the black locust as invasive and giving tips on its eradication. Later, the Wisconsin Woodland Owners’ magazine, Woodland Management ran an article by board member Robert Coffin in defense of black locust. Coffin said he found it interesting that the black locust has been introduced into Europe and Asia and is grown for “railroad ties, mine and embankment props, grapevine supports, boat timbers and spars, furniture veneer, commercial charcoal, papermaking pulp, sustainable domestic fuel, honey production, green biomass as cattle and poultry feed, with high-protein nutrition similar to alfalfa, and land reclamation, as locust grows well in saline and polluted soils, and in dry and severe climates.”

Coffin closed his story with this: “Foresters may look more kndly on black locust after its value in trapping carbon dioxide is recognized, and breeding efforts succeed with varieties resistant to borers and other pests. Every winter, the locust wood burning in my stove reminds me of its value.”

Good wood or weed? Yup.

TIMELY TIPS TO TAKE PHOTOS FOR MICHIGAN FORESTS

Photos to go with stories are always welcome. And with today’s digital cameras, taking them is easy, usually at little cost other than email time, and easy to re-shoot at the time you take a photo to see if you have it as you want it.

But we still see digital photos taken as your granddad did with an old box camera – point and shoot without regard to the important figure or subject taken. Result is often out of focus, shaky, blurred, head cut-offs, and other “snapshot” ills.

We offer these tip to improve your photos, whether for use in Michigan Forests or for your own use.

TIP #1 – Determine what the subject will be and then make sure the subject is not amid clutter or distractive background – like not noticing something behind the subject that makes him suddenly sprout Devil’s horns. If the subject is a person, then move in close enough to fill the frame with most of the subject. A little space around the subject makes it easy to crop without losing the subject but eliminating non-important background “clutter.”

TIP #2 - If the landscape is the important subject, then people in it should be smaller and farther sway and there more for scale more than their personas. Again – determine what the subject is for the shot.

TIP #3 - Time of day is an important guide to setting up a shot. Higher mid-day sunlight makes for dark shadows on features or detail, so move to open shaded areas and make the shots there. If you must be in the mid-day sunlight, then don’t be afraid to turn on the built in flash for filling in those details otherwise shadowblocked.

TIP #4 - More on time of day. Early morning and late afternoon lighting is better since the angle of the sunlight is lower and not as harsh in open areas. It also allows for dramatic backlighting, especially at such time when fall colors are backlit and dramatic and intense.

TIP #5 – Hold steady. If you shoot a lot of pictures get a tripod. The small digital cameras of today are light so you don’t need a big, heavy tripod, but one of these will eliminate most human shake and give you sharper results. There are small pocket tripods that are merely a C-clamp with an adjustable angle camera grip to hold your camera. These are handy, since you can clamp on a tree limb, a car window, a picnic table, or anything the jaws of the C-clamp can grip. A trip to a good camera shop will let you find one suited to your needs, but they can improve your shots and avoid camera shake a blur. (You can even sneak into the shot if your camera allows for a delayed release – most do.)

TIP # 6 – Is your featured subject a skilled person who uses tools or other craft related equipment? Then make some shots of him or her practicing their trade or skill using the tools of that trade. It adds both a human and a tools aspect to your picture. A forester using a scaling tool, a biologist checking a critter, a woodcarver making a decoy with his carving tools, and other hands-on tools of the craft being used will make it possible to tell a lot about the subject in action.

TIP #7 – Every camera comes with a booklet or book that tells you what your camera can do and how to make your settings for the conditions at the time you are taking the picture. Be sure and spend some time reading it and then practicing until it becomes comfortable. Surprisingly, many people get a new camera and then give the manual material only a quick scan, never really getting to know what that camera CAN and CAN NOT do for you.

Practicing with a digital camera is basically cost free – you can re-shoot every shot after viewing it, and then you can store those shots that you find satisfactory and dump the rest. Instant viewing after a shot allows for re-shooting things that you may not ever find the same at a later time.

These are a few basic tips to help you make better photos and also make them useful for the pages of Michigan Forests. As stated, we can always use good photos to go with stories here in our pages. Let’s hope these tips will make your efforts successful