State: The current stumpage rate being assessed to logging residue as of September 2005
is $2/ton on state timbersales. Minnesota Forest Resources Council (MFRC)
guidelines require the retention of some coarse woody debris and snags for wildlife
habitat purposes.
County: Policy is variable from county to county. One county has assigned stumpage rate
of $2/ton while most counties have not addressed this issue.
Industrial: Varies from owner to owner, many have not addressed the issue at this point,
several ownerships are in flux and there are not firm policies as of yet with those
ownerships.
Private Non-Industrial: Many private landowners prefer to have all of the logging residue
removed for a more park-like appearance and in many cases, do not receive any
additional stumpage for it. In other cases, landowners actually pay to have the logging
residue removed. Extracting biomass residue off state timbersales is a relatively new
process that is being developed, but there are instances of a stumpage rate of $2/ton
being assessed on logging residue on some current state timbersales. Additionally, the
Minnesota Forest Resources Council (MFRC) guidelines recommend that some
coarse woody debris and snags be retained for wildlife habitat purposes.
Wisconsin Policies of Major Landowners
Federal: On the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest (the only National Forest in
Wisconsin), all timbersales are done on a lump sum basis, with a utilization
requirement to a four-inch top. This means that anything smaller than the four-inch
top remains in the ownership of the National Forest. To date, there has been no
demand for doing chipping on the National Forest; consequently, there is no system
in place for addressing what the cost per ton would be for the removal of this
material. There is nothing within the forest plan that forbids this from happening
except on poor sites (i.e. coarse sand soil type).
State: Timber sales are bid to variable top diameters. Contractors bid based on their
utilization standards. The total sale bid is the determining factor as to which
contractor will get the sale.
County: There are 29 County Forests in Wisconsin. Logging residue utilization policy
varies tremendously between the 29. In some counties, it has not even surfaced as an
issue so there is no policy, while in others, they use the same policy as is
aforementioned in state sales. On scaled sales, several counties use a percentage
addition to the timbersale volume to account for biomass. For Example: if a sale were
cruised at a 1,000 cords to a four-inch top utilization, 20% would be added on to
come up with 1,200 cords total for this sale. A contractor who was going to utilize the
whole tree would put a per cord bid on the 1,200 cords and a contractor who was only
going to use the four-inch top would put in a per cord bid on the 1,000. The totals of
each bid would then be compared to determine the high bid).
The Real Cost of Extracting Logging Residue Page 14 of 17