2005-2008 Forest Harvest Summary for Selected Towns in Addison and Washington Counties , VT

2005-2008 Forest Harvest Summary for Selected Towns in Addison and Washington Counties, VT

Community Biomass Project

Objective: Understand current harvest volumes from the local area

• 2005-2008• MRV towns: Warren, Waitsfield, Fayston, Moretown• Harvest data from:

– UVA (current use) enrolled private lands; – State, Town and Federal (national forest) lands

Caveat: This is a rough estimate! • Non-current use private land harvest not included• Current use data is not perfect

0.0 0.05.0

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

1

Series1Series2Series3Series4

Harvest by land ownership type

National Forest

StateTownPrivate;UVA

Percent of total harvest

0%

100%

95%

1281

4552

2057

668

2140

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

4500

5000

1 2 3 4 5

Series1

Total annual harvest volumes (cords)

2005 2006 2007 2008 Avg. Annual

2,140

• Avg annual harvest of 2140 cords (~1070 MBF) is enough wood to frame ~80 new 2000 sq.ft. houses. (13.7 MBF/house according to National Association of Home Builders)

Harvest by town (cords)• Varies greatly year to year• Bristol and New Haven lowest, Starksboro highest

0.0

500.0

1000.0

1500.0

2000.0

2500.0

3000.0

Bristol Lincoln Monkton New Haven Starksboro

2005200620072008

Boards vs. Energy

• 55% sawtimber, 45% low grade wood (cordwood, chips, etc.)

• 966 cords avg. annual low grade harvest

Home Heating POTENTIAL

• Avg annual low grade harvest (966 cords) is enough to heat 6% of households (223 homes) in the focal towns. (4.3crds/house/yr source: 2009 UVM Wood Consumption Survey)

• Note: does not account for other existing uses» Subtract at least 7.8% (313 homes) for Mt. Abraham High

School’s chip supply and ~10% of Middlebury supply (10% based on proportion of their woodshed within the project area)

» i.e. These two users consume more than the current low grade harvest recorded here.

Current vs. Potential Harvest

• Current low-grade harvest (966 cords/yr) is 4-9% of projected harvestable low-grade wood volume grown annually (10,990-23,810 cords/yr from Lapin and Rodgers 2009).

Potential harvest volumes as energy

• 10,990-23,810 cords/yr low-grade wood grown (Lapin and Rodgers 2009)

• Potential heating for 2560-5550 homes (64-140% of existing homes)

• USE WITH CAUTION!