Biomass utilization for bioenergy in the Western United States.

Wildfires, hazardous fuel buildups, small-diameter timber, wildland-urban interface zones, biomass. These are some of the terms becoming familiar to communities throughout the Western United States after the record-breaking fire seasons of the past decade. Although small-diameter stems are generally expensive to remove and often have limited utilization options, the need to reduce wildfire hazard has become increasingly important with the expansion of the wildland-urban interface across the Western United States. An estimated 73 million acres of national forest land in Western States (397 million acres across all ownerships) have been identified as high-priority treatment areas. Nearly 3,800 communities near federal lands in Western States are considered to be at high risk of wildfire.