Huge biomass potential in county

DILLARD — Douglas County Commissioner Joe Laurance told a gathering Thursday evening that the county has the potential to be the top producer of biomass material in Oregon.

Laurance told the group of 20 hand-picked representatives of the timber industry, environmental groups, the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, the Cow Creek Band of the Umpqua Tribe of Indians and others that collecting wood from slash piles and thinning operations could provide a source of electricity while at the same time improving forest health.

The purpose of the gathering, held at Laurance’s home on the banks of the South Umpqua River, was to get people of varied backgrounds talking and to see the potential for creating new jobs and protecting existing ones while also helping forests and the environment.

Crystal Shoji, owner of Shoji Planning and Development in Coos Bay, served as facilitator.

The News-Review was invited to the private meeting at Laurance’s request, with the understanding that its reporter would not take notes and would simply observe what was being said. Laurance said it was important for the paper to be there to have background information as efforts to create a biomass project move forward, but he also wanted participants to feel free to share their ideas without having every word recorded.

Since taking office in January, Laurance has embraced biomass technology. He has said the collection of wood materials that could be burned for energy could increase forest revenues, which, in turn, would provide the county with added jobs and earnings.

Laurance said Douglas County contains one-third of the state’s wood waste material that can’t be used in traditional timber products, along with naturally occurring forest floor debris.

Removing the waste can improve a forest’s ability to produce oxygen and remove greenhouse gases, Laurance said. It also reduces the potential for forest fires that release large amounts of carbon into the atmosphere.

Much of Thursday’s meeting, which lasted nearly three hours, centered around definition of terms and discussion of how biomass could become a viable energy source in Douglas County. Participants also spoke about the infrastructure needed to develop it.

The group agreed to meet again, possibly in August. Members wanted to look into a couple of studies from the Cow Creeks and the Oregon Forest Resources Institute that look at the potential amount of forest material available for biomass energy production, the costs of removing those materials and taking them to a processing facility, and other topics.

Bob Hall, a spokesman for the Roseburg BLM district office, said he thought Thursday’s gathering was productive and did a good job of getting people talking. He said cooperation from people representing many interests would be necessary to create a successful biomass effort.

Laurance, too, said he was pleased.

“I had high hopes and low expectations,” Laurance said. “The fact that they want to meet again is encouraging.”



• You can reach reporter John Sowell at 957-4209 or by e-mail at jsowell@newsreview.info.