Sponsored by:
Department of the Interior - Department of Agriculture - Department of Energy

Co-sponsored by:
Western Governors' Association - National Association of Counties

The three-day conference held on January 20 - 22, 2004, provided a forum to share information and to address institutional, internal, and external barriers to successful utilization of forest and woodland biomass for energy and small diameter wood products.

Plenary Session
Panel discussion: Developing a sustainable bioenergy and wood products industry in conjunction with restoring forest and rangeland health.

• Rebecca W. Watson, Assistant Secretary, Land and Minerals Management, Department of the Interior
• David K. Garman, Assistant Secretary, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Department of Energy
  • Presentation
• Arthur "Butch" Blazer, New Mexico State Forester, Western Governors' Association representative
  • Presentation
• Dr. Gregory H. Aplet, Senior Forest Scientist, The Wilderness Society
• Mark Rey, Under Secretary, Natural Resources & Environment, Department of Agriculture

Additional Discussion

• Gerry Gray, Vice President for Policy, American Forests & Paper Association, Washington, DC
  • Presentation
• Henson Moore, President and Chief Executive Officer, American Forests & Paper Association, Washington, DC
• Bill Carlson, Vice President, Business Development of Wheelabrator Technologies., Anderson, California
  • Presentation

Technical Sessions

Restoring Forests and Rangelands:
Ed Shepard, Bureau of Land Management, Washington, D.C., Session Moderator

Panel #1 - Forest and Rangeland Restoration Needs and Opportunities: Rick Cables, Rocky Mountain Regional Forester, USDA Forest Service, Panel Moderator

• Restoring ecological and social integrity of the greater ecosystems of the West: Dr. W. Wallace Covington, Professor of Forest Ecology, Northern Arizona University
  Presentation

• Defining restoration needs at the local level: Jay O' Laughlin, Policy Analysis Group, University of Idaho
  Presentation

• Restoring ponderosa pine in the Colorado front range: Good ecology, good wildfire mitigation: Dr. Merrill Kaufmann, USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fort Collins, Colorado
  Presentation

• Quantifying the restoration needs: Jim Hubbard, Colorado State Forester, Fort Collins, Colorado
  Presentation
  

Panel #2 - Potential Restoration By-products and Uses Panel: Rob Davis, President, Pellet Fuels Institute, Forest Energy Corporation, Panel Moderator

• Potential biomass volumes from forest treatments in the West: Dr. Bryce Stokes, Program Leader, Vegetation Management and Protection Research, USDA Forest Service Research and Development
  Presentation

• Current integrated use of biomass from forest treatments: Todd Brinkmeyer, Owner, Plummer Forest Products, Plummer, Idaho
  Presentation

• Current and potential solid wood and fiber products from biomass: Dr. Chris Risbrudt, Director, USDA Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory
  Presentation - Forest Products Laboratory
  Presentation - Thinning Trees

• Current and potential energy products from biomass: Dr. Richard L. Bain, Group Manager, Thermochemical Conversion, USDOE National Renewable Energy Laboratory
  Presentation

Panel #3 - Collaborative Efforts to Restore Forest Rangeland Health: Ed Brunson, Fire Education Director, The Nature Conservancy, Boise, Idaho, Panel Moderator

• Collaboration for Restoration in eastern Nevada: Dr. Bill Morrill, Eastern Nevada Coalition, Verdi, Nevada
  Presentation

• The many faces of collaboration: Lessons Learned from Stewardship Contracting Projects Projects in the Northern Rockies: Carol Daly, Flathead Economic Policy Center, Columbia Falls, Montana
  Presentation

• Biomass utilization in Fond du Lac Firewise projects: Vern Northrup, Forestry Technician; and Daria Day, Student Conservation Association's Fire Education Corps. Team Leader, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Cloquet, Minnesota
  Presentation

• A proposal for collaborative restoration and monitoring in the White Mountains of Arizona: Bill Ulfelder, Director, Northern Arizona Program, The Nature Conservancy, Flagstaff, Arizona
  Presentation
  

Meeting the Needs of Communities:
Arthur DuFault, Bureau of Land Management, Washington, DC, Session Moderator

Panel #1 - Building Community Consensus and Infrastructure: Blair Moody, Forester, Bureau of Land Management, Medford, Oregon, Panel Moderator

• Fuels for schools: William Boettcher, Director of State and Private Forestry for the Northern and Intermountain Regions, USDA Forest Service, Missoula, Montana
  Presentation

• Power to the people: Roger Fragua, Council of Energy Resource Tribes, Denver, Colorado

• Northern wood power project: Gary Long, Public Service Company, Manchester, New Hampshire
  Presentation

• A case study - Community sustainability in times of transition: Mike Stewart, Manager, Cascade Forest Resource Center, Cascade, Idaho

Panel #2 - Sustainable Development of Local Wood Products Industry: Susan LeVan-Green, USDA Forest Service, Forest Products Library, Madison, Wisconsin

• Public timber sales and sustainability: Who buys; who benefits; and why CROP is a vital key: Catherine Mater, Mater Engineering, Corvallis, Oregon
  Presentation

• No mill, no market, no forest: Jim Petersen, Evergreen Foundation, Big Fork, Montana
  Presentation

• An example of sustainable development in Indian country: Larry Potts, Chief Executive Officer and General Manager, Warm Springs Forest Products, Warm Springs, Oregon
  Presentation

• Pre-feasibility studies can make a difference: Tad Mason, TSS Consultants, Red Bluff, California

Panel #3 - Optimizing Opportunities and Securing Financing for Biomass Utilization: Ron Christensen, Panel Moderator

• Economic and policy context of woody biomass utilization for electric power: Dr. Mark Nechodom, Social and Policy Sciences at the Sierra Nevada Research Center, USDA Forest Service, Davis, California
  Presentation

• A case history - Development of a biomass utilization project in southern Utah: Scott Truman, Executive Director, Utah Rural Development Council, Cedar City, Utah

• Biomass to energy - Present commercial strategies and future options: John Scahill, USDOE National Renewable Energy Lab, Golden, Colorado
  Presentation

• Energy Opportunities for Indian Tribes: Developing Effective Economic Strategies that Can Work: John Waconda, Regional Forester, Southwest Region
  Presentation
  

Regional Workshops

• Building Partnerships
• Collaborative Solutions
• Regional Strategies
  

Action Items