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	View Edit Domain: BioEnergy Title: * Body: The forest industry must proceed with caution and there must be clear regulations around harvesting to ensure biomass is a sustainable energy source, says the Forest Products Association of Nova Scotia.<br /> <br /> "There is a place for biomass harvesting and bioenergy production, but we do have to proceed with caution in terms of how we go about it," executive director Steve Talbot said Tuesday.<br /> <br /> "I think it’s a part of the overall movement towards renewable energy in the province, along with wind, solar and tidal," Mr. Talbot said in an interview.<br /> <br /> "But we agree with the Ecology Action Centre that guidelines are necessary so that everybody realizes where they stand with respect to harvesting biomass," he said.<br /> <br /> Mr. Talbot was responding to the recent controversy surrounding a forest harvest by Northern Pulp Nova Scotia Corporation near Upper Musquodoboit, using whole-tree harvesting and clearcutting.<br /> <br /> The Ecology Action Centre released photos last week condemning the harvesting practices and questioning whether biomass harvesting for power generation would leave a trail of devastation in Nova Scotia forests.<br /> <br /> A local group called Save Caribou has also condemned the harvesting practices at the site near Caribou Mines and others in Halifax Regional Municipality.<br /> <br /> The Ecology Action Centre and other environmental groups are calling on the province to ban whole-tree harvesting, where everything is removed from a forest, including tree stumps and branches, leaving a barren swath of ground.<br /> <br /> The province is in the process of creating guidelines for biomass harvesting, but is still consulting with experts, a Department of Natural Resources spokesman told this newspaper last week.<br /> <br /> Government and industry are also awaiting the results of a scientific study from the University of New Brunswick that is examining nutrient loss on harvested sites, said Mr. Talbot.<br /> <br /> The new guidelines will determine just how harvesting of biomass is handled in the province. "I suspect the provincial guidelines will be based to a certain degree on the finds from that study," he added.<br /> <br /> He said he hopes the study is released and harvesting guidelines are in place before next summer’s harvesting operations begin.<br /> <br /> Mr. Talbot said he can’t comment on the harvested site near Upper Musquodoboit. "I haven’t had a chance to get out there and actually take a look at the site, so it’s difficult to make any comments or decisions."<br /> <br /> But he acknowledged that the site has stirred public debate on the issue of harvesting for biomass.<br /> <br /> In most cases, harvesting that leaves the majority of tree tops, branches and deadwood in the forest as nutrients will ensure new forest growth, said Mr. Talbot.<br /> <br /> "But I think we’re really going to have to take a look at sites on an individual basis, and low-capability sites that have difficulty in reproducing a new stand, those are the ones we’re going to have to look at leaving tops and branches and so on to maintain a sustainable nutrient level on the site.<br /> <br /> "On richer sites, we can look at alternatives on what we need there and what we remove."<br /> <br /> The Forest Products Association of Nova Scotia, with 600 members, represents a wide sector of the forest industry, including large forest companies, small woodlot owners, sawmill operators, truckers, Christmas tree producers and harvesting contractors.<br /> <br /> Copyright ©2009 The Halifax Herald Limited<br /> Captcha: Please Enter Code : * Time Zone: * Select the time zone Vocabularies Newsletter: Domain: Show summary in full view Input format Filtered HTML Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically. Lines and paragraphs break automatically. Full HTML Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically. Lines and paragraphs break automatically. news_filter Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically. More information about formatting options			Related Articles Mansfield, Noble merge ethanol marketing divisions House committee members, industry slam effort to delay E15 Biomass: Boon or Boondoggle? Mansfield, Noble merge ethanol marketing divisions Wood pellets could fuel sawmill industry US a cereal offender on ethanol, says UN Novozymes explores seaweed-to-ethanol in India Findings on Biochar, Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Ethylene Indonesia eyeing $1bn climate aid to cut down forests, says ... USDA Announces Funding for Two Renewable Energy Programs Top BioEnergy Articles

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