Over two late summer days in 1910, in western Montana and northern Idaho, more than
3 million acres of forest and several towns went up in smoke. More than 2,700 lightning-caused forest fires resulted in 85 deaths.
Today’s conditions are prime for a repeat. The culprits? There are several contributing factors, but the primary cause is climate change. For 304 consecutive months, the average world temperature has been higher than the established monthly average. For the past four months, that number has been a record high. Add in a long drought cycle in the West, and the threat of devastating fire, as recently seen in Colorado and California, looms large.
Changes to the landscape have occurred, with Nevada’s population growth and other more intensive land-management activities. Our recent fire-suppression efforts have had unintended negative consequences. With fewer fires, the pinyon and juniper woodlands grew at unprecedented rates, literally “giant stepping” from their traditional ranges onto nearby sagebrush and grass lands.
A new program at the University of Nevada, Reno is leading to solutions that will help mitigate the threat of a repeat of the Big Burn.
Increased rangeland and watershed restoration projects are underway throughout the state. The Wood Utilization Program, part of the College of Business’ Business Environmental Program, is providing wood-based industries with utilization and marketing assistance. Working in concert with BLM, USFS and USDA personnel, the university is developing economic strategies and introducing technologies that will improve the value of forest and rangeland materials.
The problem is, Nevada’s pinyon and juniper don’t have significant commercial value. They don’t have a lumber value that attracts traditional sawmill entrepreneurs. The species, known to local foresters as “PJ,” are relegated to biomass status. Firewood, fuel chips, mulch and compost are the typical “end-of- life-cycle” products for PJ. However, their status could be changing.Research at the University and DRI points to higher-end uses for PJ. Converting the biomass to cellulosic ethanol, torrefied fuel stock for co-firing at coal power plants, or creating biochar as a soil amendment and carbon sequestration agent all are possibilities that could improve the economics of thinning, increasing the number of acres that can be treated, as well as increasing the pace of watershed restoration.
Elmer “Dusty” Moller is wood-utilization manager of the Business Environmental Program in the University of Nevada, Reno College of Business.