Woodfuel east project

[Quickthorn]

This might be of interest to a few of you..a new woodfuel initiative for eastern counties..might be some grants in it for machinery or to help woodland management:

 

"Woodfuel project to boost rural economy

 

Launched last month, the £10.7 million Woodfuel East project aims to create jobs

and businesses in the rural economy, improve biodiversity and cut carbon emissions

by providing locally produced and sustainably sourced fuel in the East of England.

 

The project will encourage landowners to manage the 50,000 hectares of neglected

woodlands (almost a third of the total woodland in the region) in Cambridgeshire,

Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk.

 

It will also encourage a co-ordinated supply chain, from land owners through to the

marketplace for woodchips. For example, felled trees and cut branches, which might

otherwise go to waste, can be chipped for use in specialised boilers to provide heat

and hot water for medium-sized buildings such as schools, village halls and offices,

particularly in rural areas with no gas supply.

 

The Woodfuel East initiative is a partnership governed by representatives of

25 organisations from across the region, co-ordinated by the Forestry Commission.

 

By 2013, the project hopes to be saving at least 75,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide

emissions per year and supplying the equivalent of 12,500 homes with energy.

 

Learn more at www.woodfueleast.org.uk and www.eeda.org.uk/rdpe."

[Buzz]

All these projects are starting with no thought to where all the wood will come from ! It's all well and good 'encouraging landowners' to manage derelict woodland but they'll expect an income which you just give them untill chip prices rise.

[Charlieh]

i know in cambridgeshire the council wanted to create a load more woodland and they wanted to try and link up the existing native woodland, but when questioned in more detail they didnt want to pay anymore towards the woods either management or creation, I dont think the woods round cambridgeshire really are going to provide huge amounts of valuable biofuels, especially by just bring the un-managed woods into management, they need to really think this through and put funding into woodland creation

[Buzz]

Yep, un-managed woodlands have no infrastructure. I think these people reckon the trees float out of the woods on there own !

[Amelanchier]

In my experience, a lot of these schemes are non-starters because the people at the top making the policies don't have a clear understanding of the financial implications of tree management - basically they're under the assumption that you plant the tree/s, smile for the camera and win lots of awards... Forget about post planting maintenance, beating up, thinning, habitat.

 

Also the term 'neglected' concerns me. Who says? Does a hands off zero management policy equal neglect? Does a woodland have to produce timber to become useful??

[Buzz]

Alot of woodlands were planted to produce timber but when timber prices dropped the landowners couldn't afford to thin them etc.

 

But yes the term neglected woodland could indeed lead to confusion.

[David oakman]

All the timber trees on my estate are overaged when one falls down the timber merchant comes out and says he can not pay any thing because of the cost for him to remove it. but the woods here are managed but this is only for sporting if the shooting stopped i would not have a job:001_smile:

[Quickthorn]

but the woods here are managed but this is only for sporting if the shooting stopped i would not have a job:001_smile:

 

Well, this is it..this is the only thing a lot of woodland owners care about.

 

I agree that most of these initiatives are a bit of a waste: half of the money available will be swallowed up by the costs of administering it all. However, if I lived in that area, I'd certainly be looking into what I could get out of it in the way of kit..before the remainder of the money disappears into the pockets of the usual suspects.

[Frimsley]

I think you need to step back a bit and take the long view here. Obviously woodland owners are going to want an income, and that is precisely what this kind of project is intended to enable. But it can't be done over night.

 

The classic problem is no one will install a bio mass boiler if there are no chips to be had. And no one will invest in processing chip if there isn't yet a market to sell the chip into. Projects such as this are intended to kick start the process and build both the market and the processing infrastructure. Other less ambitious projects have seen some considerable success - the supply chain is now well on its way in the Welsh Marches and there have been some recent developments spurring from this in Warwickshire, for example.

 

Developing the wood fuel market is a key part of the Forestry Commission's current strategy, so you can expect to see further projects of this kind. Irrespective of source, energy prices follow each other. An increase in the price of oil results in an increase in the price of wind generated electricity. And an increase in the price of wood fuel. The current market trends are pushing up the value of poor quality roundwood, particularly where there is local wood fuel processing available. Wood fuel processors around here currently significantly more than Kronospan, and without the cost of transport to Wrexham. This is starting to make it look like woodland management for timber production is economically viable once more. Particularly when combined with the fact that the huge Chinese demand for saw log quality timber has resulted in significant increases in timber prices over the last couple of years.

[Buzz]

The chicken and egg scenario with woodfuel versus boiler is i think an argument that was true 3 years ago but is dead in the water now. Yes the FC is looking into biomass and indeed has it's own supply contract in Wales (under duress) however biomass will not move forwards until more money is available to pay landowners for the wood.