Reduce Fuel Load

Some or all of the fuel can be permanently removed from the site, biologically decomposed, and/or prevented from being produced. Overall emissions can be reduced when fuel is permanently excluded from burning.

• Mechanical removal. Mechanically removing fuels from a site reduces emissions proportionally to the amount of fuel removed. This is a broad category and can include such techniques as mechanical removal of logging debris from clearcuts, onsite chipping of woody material and/or brush for offsite utilization, and mechanical removal of fuels which may or may not be followed by offsite burning in a more controlled environment. Sometimes mechanical treatments (such as whole-tree harvesting or yarding of unmerchantable material [YUM]) may result in sufficient treatment so that burning is not needed. Mechanical treatments are applicable on lands where this activity is allowable (i.e., non-wilderness, etc.), supported by an access road network, and where there is an economic market for disposal of the removed fuel. This technique is most effective in forest fuel types and has some limited applicability in shrub and grass fuel types. A portion of the emission reduction gains from this technique may be offset by increased fossil fuel and particulate emissions from equipment used for harvest, transportation, and disposal operations. Mechanical treatments may cause undue soil disturbance or compaction, stimulate alien plant invasion, remove natural nutrient sources, or impair water quality.
• Mechanical processing. Mechanical processing of dead and live vegetation into wood chips or shredded biomass is effective in reducing emissions if the material is removed from the site or biologically decomposed (figure 8.2). If the biomass is spread across the ground as additional litter fuels, emission reductions are not achieved if the litter is consumed either in a prescribed or wildland fire. Use of this technique may eliminate the need to burn.
• Firewood sales. Firewood sales may result in sufficient removal of woody debris making onsite burning unnecessary. This technique is particularly effective for piled material where the public has easy access. This technique is generally applicable in forest types with large diameter, woody biomass. The emissions from wildland fuels when burned for residential heating are not assessed as wildland fire emissions but as residential heating emissions. The impact of these emissions on the human environment is not attributed to wildland fire in the national or state emissions inventories.
• Biomass for electrical generation. Woody biomass can also be removed and used to provide electricity in regions with cogeneration facilities. Combustion efficiency in electricity production is greater than open burning and emissions from biomass fuel used offset fossil fuel emissions. Although this method of reducing fuel loading is cost-effective where there is a market for wood chips, there are significant administrative, logistical, and legal barriers that limit its use.
• Biomass utilization. Woody material can be used for many miscellaneous purposes including pulp for paper, methanol production, wood pellets, garden bedding, and specialty forest products. Demand for these products varies widely from place to place and year to year. Biomass utilization is most applicable in forest and shrub types that include large diameter woody biomass and where fuel density and accessibility makes biomass utilization economically viable.
• Ungulates. Grazing and browsing live grassy or brushy fuels by sheep, cattle, or goats can reduce fuels prior to burning or reduce the burn frequency. Goats will sometimes consume even small, dead woody biomass. However, ungulates are selective, favoring some plants over others. The cumulative effect of this selectivity can significantly change plant species composition and long-term ecological processes on an area, eventually converting grass dominated areas to brush. On moderate to steep slopes, high populations of ungulates contribute to increased soil erosion.