ARTICLE IN PRESS

0961-9534/$ - se

doi:10.1016/j.bi

Biomass and Bioenergy 30 (2006) 279–280

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Preface

Sustainable production systems for bioenergy: Impacts on forestresources and utilization of wood for energy

Forests are a key natural resource, able to help satisfymany human wants, including material needs such aswood, paper and other forest products, environmentalneeds such as clean water, protection against soil erosionand mitigation of climate change, and socio-economicneeds such as employment, wealth creation, and recreation.In order to provide these and other benefits withoutinterruption or eventually declining output, forests must bemanaged for sustainable production of all values, econom-ic, environmental and social. One potentially valuable by-product from conventional forestry systems producingwood for construction or pulp and paper is biomass forenergy. In some parts of the industrialized world, forestshave become more valuable for non-consumptive uses suchas recreation, aesthetics and environmental protection thanfor material products, and conservation and preservationpolicies have resulted in excessive build-up of unproductiveforest biomass, distorting the impact of natural ecosystemprocesses such as fire and insect outbreaks. Removingexcess biomass can restore the balance and naturalsustainability of the ecosystem and provide feedstock forenergy systems, but poses economic, environmental andsocio-political challenges. A workshop of IEA BioenergyTask 31 in 2003 addressed some of these challenges andrelated issues.

The International Energy Agency Bioenergy Agreement(IEA Bioenergy) involves a series of international colla-borative research, development and information-sharingprojects, of which Task 31 is concerned with ‘‘Conven-tional Forestry Systems for Sustainable Production ofBioenergy’’. In 2003, ten countries contributed to andparticipated in the work of this Task: Australia, Belgium,Canada, Denmark, Finland, New Zealand, Norway,Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. Thesupport of Task Operating Agent J. Peter Hall of Canadais appreciated.

The Task is developing systems and guidelines forenvironmentally sustainable and economic production ofbiomass for energy from conventional forestry systems andpromoting their acceptance and use in relation tosilviculture, forest management, harvesting and transpor-tation. It is envisaged that integrated assessments of forest

e front matter

ombioe.2005.07.004

management practices, environmental conditions andsocio-economic factors will not only improve productivityand forest health, but also result in the most efficient use offorest resources, including biomass for energy, from bothnatural forests and plantations in the world’s major forestbiomass.The papers published here were presented at the third

annual workshop of the Task, held in Flagstaff, Arizona,USA, in October 2003. The objective of the workshop wasto provide an opportunity and venue for resourcemanagers, power industry representatives, bioenergy sys-tems equipment manufacturers, energy production profes-sionals, energy users, program managers, educators,scientists and researchers to exchange information anddiscuss sustainable management, production and use ofbioenergy as an integral part of resource management andcommunity development. The workshop reviewed state-of-the-art knowledge in two main topic areas related to thisobjective: bioenergy and wildfire risk reduction, andbioenergy production systems.For both these main topic areas, more specific con-

sideration was given to how sustainable biomass produc-tion for energy depends on and integrates questions of:

�

operations and economics of feedstock production; � social and political considerations of using wood for

energy;

� site productivity and improvements in forest manage-

ment;

� environmental quality in bioenergy production; � integrating bioenergy and forest fuels management; and � enhancing bioenergy production systems.

The United States Department of Agriculture ForestService, Rocky Mountain Research Station and theGreater Flagstaff Forests Partnership, under the sponsor-ship of Bryce Stokes and Dan Neary of USDA ForestService Research and Development, organized the work-shop in Arizona. The technical program for the workshopwas arranged by the Task leadership team of JimRichardson, Tat Smith and Rolf Bjorheden, who, alongwith Tara Bhattarai, Jim Boyle, Dan Neary and Bryce

ARTICLE IN PRESSPreface / Biomass and Bioenergy 30 (2006) 279–280280

Stokes, also moderated the technical program sessions,which included both invited and volunteer papers andposters. Two of the authors were unable to participate inthe workshop in person due to last-minute travel difficul-ties, but others willingly presented their papers.

The 16 papers collected here have been subjected to peerreview, revised by the authors, and edited for styleand format. Reviews were helpfully provided by AnttiAsikainen, Phillip Badger, Peter Beets, Tara Bhattarai,Tony Bridgwater, Rolf Bjorheden, Jim Boyle, Jim Burger,Emily Carter, Jianbang Gan, Tomas Gullberg, KlaraHelstad, Gerard Horgan, Barrie Hudson, Raida Jirjis,Jerry Johansson, Gary Kronrad, Daniel Len, John Lloyd,Don Mead, Danesh Miah, Ian Morrison, Dan Neary,Ralph Overend, Matti Parikka, Robert Powers, ElizabethRemedio, Keith Richards, Jim Richardson, Dominik

Roser, Veli-Matti Saarinen, Stephen Schoenholtz, JimShepard, Wayne Shepperd, Semida Silveira, Tat Smith,Arto Timperi, Jean-Franc-ois Van Belle, Kelkar Vasant,William Watson and Takuyuki Yoshioka. The workof Task Secretary Alison Lowe, and later CarolynAnderson and Oana Popescu, in collecting the papersand managing the review process is gratefully acknowl-edged. Thanks are expressed to journal editors PaulMitchell and Ralph Overend for agreeing to publish theseproceedings.

Jim RichardsonIEA Bioenergy Task 31,

1876 Saunderson Drive,

Ottawa, Ont., Canada K1G 2C5

E-mail address: jrichardson@on.aibn.com