Powering the Future, Restoring the Past An ecological assessment of long-term woody biomass utilization for energy in the McCloud watershed of Northern California Author:

The forests of the Klamath-Cascade region of California are some of the most diverse and productive coniferous forests in the world. However, decades of fire suppression threaten the region’s ecological complexity and the ability of forests to adapt to a changing climate. A biomass power plant sited in the McCloud River watershed could drive forest restoration efforts while leveraging clean and efficient power generation technologies. A successful ecologically-driven comprehensive restoration and manage-ment plan for the McCloud watershed could reduce wildfire threat, develop local energy independence and drive regional economic development. U.S. Department of Agricul-ture Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) data were extrapolated across the public lands within the watershed using geospatial stand-level data provided by the U.S. For-est Service Region 5. Stands where biomass harvesting was deemed impractical or ecologically harmful were removed from the analysis. The Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS) was used to model two different small-diameter stem removal treatments. Over the anticipated 40-year project horizon of a woody biomass power plant, the mode