The objective of our research is to examine the environmental and ecological costs, benefits and tradeoffs associated with the production of industrial wood pellets from forests of the Southeastern United States (SE US) for use as a renewable fuel. Nearly all industrial pellets produced to date have been shipped to Europe to serve as a substitute for coal in electric power plants. The use of pellets in power plants was justified as a means to support climate change mitigation goals through the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. However, many questions have been raised by groups on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean about actual effects on climate and SE US forests. Concerns include potential loss of old growth and bottomland forests and associated ecosystem services and species as well as the calculated GHG emission levels.
Results/Conclusions We examined data for the forests in areas supplying biomass to the two largest pellet exporting ports in the US. We found that the Chesapeake fuelshed had significant increases in acreage of large trees and harvestable carbon after 2009. Furthermore, the timberland volume within plantations increased in the Chesapeake fuelshed after 2009. The Savannah fuelshed had significant increases in volume, areas with large trees, and all carbon pools after 2008. Increases in carbon in live trees for the Chesapeake fuelshed and all carbon pools for the Savannah fuelshed for the years before and after 2009 provide empirical support to prior estimates that production of wood-based pellets in the southeast US can support forest management practices for increased productivity and carbon sequestration. Thus, quantitative analysis of the best available empirical data associated with environmental conditions over a time period capturing pre-pellet production and post-pellet production periods suggests no significant negative effects in the timberland characteristics are evident since major exports of pellets began in 2009. Finally, we share results on a new framework to assess how wood pellet production affects a species of concern using the gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) as an example of effects on biodiversity.