Encroachment of woody plants into grasslands has altered herbaceous species biomass, diversity and richness in grasslands across the United States. Juniperus virginiana (eastern redcedar) is an evergreen pioneer species that repopulates otherwise abandoned, eroded or damaged lands. It tends to spread rapidly owing to its wide adaptability to diverse soil and climatic conditions. Its widespread encroachment has multi-scale impacts including reduced forage, altered wildlife habitat, and modification of water yield, nutrient cycling, and carbon sequestration. Eastern redcedar management activities are largely absent as they typically come at a cost to the landowners without meaningful return on investment. The ultimate goal of our research is to help attract a new bioproduct industry investment to Oklahoma by providing information on available and quantifiable volumes of eastern redcedar. To this end, we analyzed the data collected by the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program of U.S. Forest Service and quantified the available and merchantable volume of the tree that could be used to manufacture a variety of products. We then performed input-output (IO) modelling to estimate the direct, indirect, and induced economic impacts coming from the introduction of new bioproducts industry in the state.
Results/Conclusions
As investigated by the FIA, eastern redcedar has more than 11 million cubic meter of aboveground volume of merchantable timber in Oklahoma. While results are yet to be estimated, our preliminary findings suggest that the available volume of redcedar biomass could sustain as many as 25 large sized sawmills for ten years. These findings also suggest that new redcedar bioproducts industries could generate 300 employment opportunities in the state. Future research efforts include an assessment of feedstock sustainability and GIS hotspot analysis for best positioning of bioproduct industries.