Biomass harvesting

DavidNolle: Hi, everyone. I'm Anna stocksted from University of Minnesota Extension, and I'm. Dave noly with the Minnesota Logger education program

Anna B Stockstad: in today's Podcast episode. We'll be discussing the biomass, harvesting guidelines, and our guest today is Dick Rossman, who was involved in the guideline monitoring program, and he was instrumental in the development of the biomass guidelines.

Anna B Stockstad: So, Dick, thank you so much for joining us today.

Dirossma: Glad to be here, Anna

DavidNolle: Dick, Welcome back. I've I've learned a little bit in this process. That biomass harvesting is a whole lot different than

DavidNolle: more conventional traditional harvest. Because i'm guessing, because you know, you take a lot more out of the wood from the site, and there's probably some situations where biomass harvesting would not be appropriate places where we should avoid removing all that extra biomass above a normal amount of when or where. How do we know that?

Dirossma: Well, Great question, Dave.

Dirossma: Generally biomass harvesting can occur on most sites in Minnesota without any negative impacts to habitat or long-term productivity. But but there are a few situations where the guidelines recommend that biomass harvesting be avoided.

Dirossma: and that's primarily due to soil, nutrient budgets and concerns.

Dirossma: So

Dirossma: just to backtrack a little when we we we move biomass from the site, we remove nutrients. They're tied up in the tree and the leaves and the bark.

Dirossma: and they they tend. These new trees tend to be more heavily concentrated in the bark, and the small branches of the tree.

Dirossma: This particularly true with ask them and other hardwoods, and with calcium

Dirossma: in those in those 3 species. So

Dirossma: for most trees, for for most sites. This is not a big issue. They have plenty of nutrient reserves, and at the current location ages it. It's fine, however, for for 2 particular situations the guide recommend the guidelines recommend avoiding

Dirossma: harvest.

Dirossma: A biomass harvest so those are deep organic soils, greater than 24 inches deep. Typically very acidic

Dirossma: these are sites where you might find a ported growing black spruce, the black spruce blog, for example. The other situation is, shell soils, and we're talking less than 8 inches deep over bedrock.

Dirossma: So so not much soil there to hold a large nutrient loan. So in these situations the guidelines recommend, we avoid biomass hardest thing.

Dirossma: and that's primarily due to lower nutrient reserves than the typical forest soil in Minnesota

Dirossma: so long term productivity is the concern there.

Dirossma: In addition.

Dirossma: there's some specific site conditions. They also recommend avoiding biomass, harvesting, sensitive locations or sites. This would be like R. And Z. Filter strips and particularly drywash filter strips.

Dirossma: Leave tree clumps as well as sensitive plant communities because of the potential impacts to habitat, forest floor and soils and those areas that are already protected

Anna B Stockstad: so pretty much the key takeaways there that people folks want to avoid harvesting around sensitive areas. So especially those low nutrients, sites like peat bogs and shallow soils and on arms. These and filter strips because we want that biomass retain to help prevent erosion next to water bodies.

Anna B Stockstad: So during a biomass harvest, though not all of the biomass is removed from a site. So what specifically needs to be retained on the site?

Dirossma: Well, I like a good point.

Dirossma: the guidelines do recommend some retention of biomass on sites rather than a total removal of all biomass, again, is primarily due to habitats and soil nutrients

Dirossma: so generally the guidelines recommend about one-third of the biomass or slash be retained on the sites.

Dirossma: And this is this is a general recommendation it could be accomplished in a variety of ways. It changes, depending on the species, the site, or the operation and equipment mix on the site.

Dirossma: so you might

Dirossma: what operation might intentionally retain 20 of the tops, or call 20 of the tops back, and then assume another 10 to 15% through accidental breakage. On this site

Dirossma: another operation might get a huge amount of accidental break it. The goal is generally a third retention.

Dirossma: The only other part of that to you mentioned is that you wouldn't want to pile all that retention in one location or right around the landing. You want to scatter it generally across the site.

Dirossma: Oh.

Dirossma: and then another couple of specific items is that the guidelines also

Dirossma: recommend retaining stumps and root systems, which we don't look at harvesting as far as here, but they are done in some European countries.

Dirossma: as well as retaining all your snags and your pre-existing course. Would you agree just like any other operation Would

Dirossma: that that's about it?

DavidNolle: So say I'm a private landowner, and I've had a harvest, and it's been a biomass harvest. But there still wants to slice all over, and that's really not what I thought I was signing up, for it's not pretty to look at.

DavidNolle: Why did those guys leave that behind to tops the limbs, you know. Good grief.

Dirossma: Well, yup slash and debris left on the site can be considered pretty unsightly. But

Dirossma: remember, in nature little is wasted, and everything serves a purpose.

Dirossma: We've talked a lot about soil, nonsense, and habitat, which is important for long for long term productivity, the forest and and that's one of the reasons we retain some slash out there.

Dirossma: In addition, we retain that slash for habitat. a number of small mammals, insects, or a rackets, or spiders.

Dirossma: as well as fungi and other plants out on the site, which are an important component to that wildlife in our forest. We need to re- protect that and retain it for those species.

Dirossma: Yeah, Doc.

Dirossma: what that slash does. It provides food. It provides shelter as far as protecting from desiccating winds provide shade.

Dirossma: Those things are particularly important right after a timber harvest. So

Dirossma: we we do every tension for those purposes as well.

Anna B Stockstad: So, yeah, it's really important to remember that that slash, even though it might be unsightly to a private landowner. There's it provides a lot of benefits. And so thanks, Dick, for giving us a really good overview of the biomass harvesting guidelines. I think we learned a lot in our 8 min together. We learned where biomass harvesting shouldn't occur, and

Anna B Stockstad: we also learned how much to retain on a site. And why retaining biomass is important. So I just want to say Thank you again, Dick, for joining us today. It's been great having you on again on the podcast

Anna B Stockstad: and to our listeners. Stay tuned for the next episode, which will be focused on sale closure. Thank you so much for listening.

Dirossma: Thank you.

Biomass harvesting
Broadcast by