Biomass harvesting policy set in New Brunswick Canada

Biomass is a hot topic in Canada where many cars and boats use partial biofuel mixtures and heating systems are designed with sustainability in mind. In fact, many types of forest produced biomass, including wood chips and vegetation, are in high demand for use as fuel in specially designed power generation stations. This large scale demand for forest produced biomass has lead to the first ever biomass legal policy in New Brunswick.

This new policy was developed over the course of two years from research conducted at the University of New Brunswick and will apply to eight million acres of Crown forest land; total Crown land is shown on the map below. The studies were focused on determining how much forest biomass material defined as "tree tops, branches, foliage, non-merchantable woody stems of trees and shrubs, pre-existing dead woody material and flail chipping residue" could be removed without harming the forest. Under the new policy over 600 cubic miles of tree tops, twigs, and branches will be available every year as fuel for power generation.

This is a landmark international decision as other nations look to alternative fuels and harvesting techniques. New Brunswick Canada has lead the way with this new policy and future impact studies will shed more light on the topic; the full story including Canadian metrics can be found here.