If we could capture the energy that is burned in the cull piles each season in the Williams Lake Timber Supply Area, a conservative estimate is we would be saving enough energy to power more than 29,000 vehicles every year.
During the Second World War when oil was cut off from the European countries small wood gasifiers were used to power vehicles, boats and trains.
At the end of the war approximately one million gasifiers were in use for non-military vehicles. About 90 per cent of Sweden’s vehicles were powered by gasifiers.
There are various methods of using the wood in the cull piles but the most immediate thing to consider is how we can relocate, store on site or somehow use this waste material rather than burning it.
Burning leaves a nice neat block, free of so-called fire hazards and meets the regulations imposed by the government.
In some countries (and I am told in some provinces) this practice would not be allowed.
The foliage and branches would be scattered back over the block to help with the soil improvement of the ecosystem. This practice could be in place of or in conjunction with applying less commercial fertilizers as is proposed in the discussion paper.
How about leaving some nice neat stacks of logs for locals to get their firewood or some free enterprisers to develop a fire wood business for locals and beyond?
I am confident that the cull logs could be stacked in ways that would minimize the fire hazard and still serve the needs of individuals who can see opportunities for the future use of these raw materials.
With the separation of the logs from the foliage and branches it would be easier (possibly economical enough) to scatter the finer material or chip it or use a portion of it for something like biochar. More about biochar later.
It may take some time to develop the infrastructures to process the waste wood into alternate forms of bioenergy or non-saw logs but if we continue to burn the cull piles we will have wasted a lot of useful raw materials and many worthwhile jobs in the process.
Future options for jobs are critical when the Annual Allowable Cut (AAC) is reduced and we are looking for ways to minimize the impact on the reduction of the annual harvest.
After we have removed the products like firewood and fence posts, we could look at options for producing bio-fuels like biochar.
One of the best references on this topic was produced by the State of Washington in 2011.
Some of the highlights of this 136 page report which relates to the cull pile issue are the following:
Approximately 405,000 barrels of oil are used in Washington State every day and at the same time approximately 16.4 million tons of organic waste material (49 per cent forest residue) is burned every year.
The article goes on to state that the pyrolysis (a thermal conversion process) is unquestionably one of the most promising techniques for sequestration of carbon and production of bio-oils as feedstock for producing secondary generation of transport fuels.
They are looking at regional processing units which will allow the crude bio-oil to be economically transported up 500 kilometres for further processing.
Biochar can be applied to soils in the vicinity of the processor to sequester carbon and enhance soil fertility.
Recent progress suggests that the pyrolysis industry is viable within the next 10 years.
In 2005 the world production of biochar was more than 44 million tons.
As mentioned in the introduction, during the Second World War when oil was cut off from the European countries small wood gasifiers were used to power many different kinds of vehicles.
Some wood gasifiers were also produced in the U.S. during the fuel crisis in the 1970s.
I think most people involved with the dead pine harvest would agree that as shelf life of sawlogs decreases the cull piles will increase.
It is therefore imperative that we start thinking outside of the box now.
Jim Hilton is a professional agrologist and forester who has lived and worked in the Cariboo Chilcotin for the past 40 years. Now retired, Hilton still volunteers his skills with local community forests organizations.