U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns toured a logging site in the Superior National Forest on Wednesday to see firsthand the results of new forest management efforts.
The site, north of Kinney in the western reaches of the forest, is being logged this month to provide timber for local paper mills and board plants.
But officials also were looking at the site to see what wood might be available after logging that usually isn't used by mills but might be salvaged to burn for energy.
The small wood usually isn't financially viable to harvest, but new Forest Service efforts and a pilot project seek to make that less-valuable wood, called biomass, available for burning to create electricity.
As part of that effort, the Superior National Forest has partnered with the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, the new Laurentian Energy Authority, municipal utilities, and with Forest Management Systems, a loggers and truckers cooperative.
The institute has been awarded a $250,000 grant to study the key issues involved.
``There's been a lot of talk of utilizing biomass off logging sites for energy, and this was a chance, along with touring an active logging site, for the secretary to see what is being talked about,'' said Kris Reichenbach, spokeswoman for the Superior National Forest. ``Utilizing that wood has a lot of potential, but also a lot of impacts. Economically and ecologically, we need to know what happens when you take that away from a site.''
In a brief forum at Duluth International Airport before the tour, Johanns and Forest Service officials said federal timber policies focus on fire prevention, sustainable timber harvest and environmental protection.
``Americans are committed to preserving our national heritage,'' Johanns said, adding that can include wise forest management to spur economic activity.
While in Duluth, Johanns also announced $2.9 million in Forest Service matching grants for 41 projects nation-wide. The grants are intended to promote diversity and growth in the timber products industry.
``By making it more economical to harvest lower-value trees, we take a step toward wiser stewardship of our forests,'' Johanns said.
Included in the grants was $90,248 to the Natural Resources Research Institute of UMD for a program -- the Great Lakes Wood Manufacturing Partnership -- aimed at helping small wood-products businesses in Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin become more competitive by reducing waste and targeting higher-profit activities.
As agriculture secretary, Johanns oversees the U.S. Forest Service. Johanns, former governor of Nebraska, took over the federal post in January. Later Wednesday, he visited Farm Fest in Morgan, Minn., for a public meeting on the Bush administration's agriculture bill.Duluth News Tribune
