Biomass Potentials from California Forest and Shrublands Including Fuel Reduction Potentials to Lessen Wildfire Threat

Biomass Potentials from California Forest and Shrublands Including Fuel Reduction Potentials to Lessen Wildfire Threat PDF Author: Prab Sethi
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biomass energy
Languages : en
Pages : 54

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Biomass Potentials from California Forest and Shrublands Including Fuel Reduction Potentials to Lessen Wildfire Threat

Biomass Potentials from California Forest and Shrublands Including Fuel Reduction Potentials to Lessen Wildfire Threat PDF Author: Prab Sethi
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biomass energy
Languages : en
Pages : 54

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Book Description


Climate Adaptation and Mitigation Strategies for Sierra Nevada Forests Using a Life-cycle Assessment of Carbon Potential

Climate Adaptation and Mitigation Strategies for Sierra Nevada Forests Using a Life-cycle Assessment of Carbon Potential PDF Author: Eric Murphey Winford
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781267240040
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
The purpose of this research is to determine whether a forest thinning project conducted with the aim of reducing wildfire risk and restoring the forest to a more resilient condition can improve the carbon stores compared to a baseline, no-thin project. A life-cycle analysis was conducted on data from a case study of a fuels-reduction thinning operation at Independence Lake, a 700-acre lake north of Truckee, California in the northern Sierra Nevada. The calculation tracks the net ecosystem carbon balance, including above and below-ground carbon pools, removals from harvesting, and disturbance by wildfire. To make assessments of in-forest carbon stores, vegetation plots and a forest growth model are utilized. Trees that are removed are used to create energy and carbon that would have been emitted from comparative fossil fuel energy sources is counted. In this case study in the Sierra Nevada, with a frequent fire return interval common to mixed-conifer forests in the historic period, thinning to reduce fuels does provide greater carbon benefits than not thinning and letting the forest grow. In all cases, potential wildfire emissions are the greatest source of emissions. Direct emissions from mechanical treatments and transportation of the biomass are each about 1% of total emissions. Emissions from the combustion of biomass are slightly less than half of total emissions but less than potential wildfire emissions. The results indicate that wildfire frequency is the greatest determinant of whether or not the project provides greater carbon sequestration potential than the baseline scenario. This suggests carbon costs and benefits of reducing fuels may need to be evaluated relative to how wildfire burn risk varies with fuel loading, forest type, and stand location.

California Agriculture

California Agriculture PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Agriculture
Languages : en
Pages : 448

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Developing Biomass Potential

Developing Biomass Potential PDF Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Resources. Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 76

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A Strategic Assessment of Forest Biomass and Fuel Reduction Treatments in Western States

A Strategic Assessment of Forest Biomass and Fuel Reduction Treatments in Western States PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Fire ecology
Languages : en
Pages : 20

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Potential Positive and Negative Environmental Impacts of Increased Woody Biomass Use for California

Potential Positive and Negative Environmental Impacts of Increased Woody Biomass Use for California PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biomass
Languages : en
Pages : 236

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Biomass Management Zones and New Pathways to Bioenergy

Biomass Management Zones and New Pathways to Bioenergy PDF Author: Stephen Kaffka
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Agricultural wastes as fuel
Languages : en
Pages : 124

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Air Quality and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Impact Assessment from Biomass and Biogas Derived Transportation Fuels and Electricity and Heat Generation

Air Quality and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Impact Assessment from Biomass and Biogas Derived Transportation Fuels and Electricity and Heat Generation PDF Author: Scott Samuelson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Air quality management
Languages : en
Pages : 158

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Ecosystems of California

Ecosystems of California PDF Author: Harold Mooney
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520278801
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 1008

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Book Description
This long-anticipated reference and sourcebook for CaliforniaÕs remarkable ecological abundance provides an integrated assessment of each major ecosystem typeÑits distribution, structure, function, and management. A comprehensive synthesis of our knowledge about this biologically diverse state, Ecosystems of California covers the state from oceans to mountaintops using multiple lenses: past and present, flora and fauna, aquatic and terrestrial, natural and managed. Each chapter evaluates natural processes for a specific ecosystem, describes drivers of change, and discusses how that ecosystem may be altered in the future. This book also explores the drivers of CaliforniaÕs ecological patterns and the history of the stateÕs various ecosystems, outlining how the challenges of climate change and invasive species and opportunities for regulation and stewardship could potentially affect the stateÕs ecosystems. The text explicitly incorporates both human impacts and conservation and restoration efforts and shows how ecosystems support human well-being. Edited by two esteemed ecosystem ecologists and with overviews by leading experts on each ecosystem, this definitive work will be indispensable for natural resource management and conservation professionals as well as for undergraduate or graduate students of CaliforniaÕs environment and curious naturalists.

The Effects of Fire and Fuels Reduction Treatments on Fire Hazard and Soil Carbon Respiration in a Sierra Nevada Pine Plantation

The Effects of Fire and Fuels Reduction Treatments on Fire Hazard and Soil Carbon Respiration in a Sierra Nevada Pine Plantation PDF Author: Leda Nikola Kobziar
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Forest fires
Languages : en
Pages : 416

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Book Description
"Throughout fire-adapted forests of the western US, and in the Sierra Nevada of California specifically, wildfire suppression has produced forest structures conducive to more severe, costly, and ecologically deleterious fires. Recent legislation has identified the necessity of management practices that manipulate forests towards less fire-hazardous structures. In the approximately 30 year old pine plantations of the Stanislaus National Forest, extensive fuels reduction procedures are being implemented. This dissertation addresses whether silvicultural and burning treatments are effective at reducing the intensity and severity of potential fire behavior, and how, along with wildfire, these treatments impact the evolution of carbon dioxide from the soil to the atmosphere. The first chapter addresses the relationships between soil respiration, tree injury, and forest floor characteristics in high and low severity wildfire burn sites in a salvage-logged mixed-conifer forest. The results indicate that fire severity influences soil CO2 efflux and should be considered in ecosystem carbon modeling. In the next chapter, fire models suggest that mechanical shredding of understory vegetation (mastication) is detrimental, and prescribed fire most effective in reducing potential fire behavior and severity in pine plantations. The third chapter documents the impact of alternative fuels treatments on soil carbon respiration patterns in the pine plantations, and shows that mastication produces short-term reductions in respiration rates and soil moisture. The final chapter further examines the relationships of fire-induced tree injuries, forest floor structure, and environmental factors to soil respiration response to fuels treatments. Each chapter is written as an independent manuscript; they collectively serve to expand the limited understanding of the effectiveness and ecological consequences of fire and fuels treatments in coniferous forests."--Abstract