Policies for establishing hybrid poplar plantations on private and public lands in western Canada for bioethanol feedstock: A forest-level financial analysis

A forest-level model is developed that estimates how policies towards hybrid poplar plantations on private and public land impact harvest levels and values for producing biofuel feedstock. We simulate three policy changes: 1) permitting an increase in harvest levels on public land as a result of establishing hybrid poplar plantations on private land; 2) permitting the establishment of hybrid poplar plantations on public land; and 3) including forest carbon emission offsets in the net benefits realized by the forest operator. We are interested in whether the increase in harvest created by the policies might be enough to supply a biorefinery, and how the value of the operation changes. Our results suggest that jointly managing public and private lands under sustained yield can increase harvest by between 7% and 93%, and increase the value of the operation by between 39% and 263%. Results also suggest that hybrid poplar plantations could enable a leaseholder of one million hectares of public forestland to initiate an allowable cut effect and thereby increase harvest enough to supply a new biorefinery, in addition to its existing pulp mill. Carbon offsets further increase the value of the forest, although harvest begins to decline at high carbon prices.

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Evaluation of the profitability of poplar cultivation in Quebec

The Forestry Chronicle ◽

10.5558/tfc2013-094 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 89 (04) ◽

pp. 538-548 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Vincent Miville ◽

Nancy Gélinas ◽

Marc-André Côté

Keyword(s):

Financial Analysis ◽

Hybrid Poplar ◽

Transportation Cost ◽

Forest Industry ◽

Private Landowners ◽

Intensive Silviculture ◽

Government Grants ◽

Main Factors ◽

Poplar Plantations ◽

Cost Of Transportation

The intensification of forest management through afforestation of high-yielding species such as hybrid poplar is considered a possible solution for re-establishing Quebec’s forest industry. However, lack of financial data seems to limit the development of poplar cultivation. This paper is a financial analysis of poplar cultivation for private landowners in the province of Quebec and is based on a scale of actual cost and six different silvicultural scenarios. This study showed that poplar cultivation is profitable when subsidized. Using a sensitivity analysis, we identified the main factors defining a window of profitability for this type of intensive silviculture. The two main factors were the price of wood and government grants. The profitability of poplar farming is sensitive to three other secondary factors: cost of transportation, cost of harvesting, and timber yields. Consideration of these factors is crucial in establishing profitable hybrid poplar plantations.

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A fuel treatment reduces fire severity and increases suppression efficiency in a mixed conifer forest

International Journal of Wildland Fire ◽

10.1071/wf06066 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 16 (6) ◽

pp. 673 ◽

Cited By ~ 51

Author(s):

Jason J. Moghaddas ◽

Larry Craggs

Keyword(s):

Fire Severity ◽

Private Land ◽

Limited Information ◽

Conifer Forest ◽

Mixed Conifer ◽

Fuel Treatments ◽

Private Lands ◽

Fuel Treatment ◽

Public And Private ◽

Spot Fires

Fuel treatments are being implemented on public and private lands across the western United States. Although scientists and managers have an understanding of how fuel treatments can modify potential fire behaviour under modelled conditions, there is limited information on how treatments perform under real wildfire conditions in Sierran mixed conifer forests. The Bell Fire started on 22 September 2005 on the Plumas National Forest, CA. This fire burned upslope into a 1-year old, 158-ha mechanical fuel treatment on private land. Prior to coming into contact with the fuel treatment, the main fire ignited spot fires 400 feet (122 metres) into the treated area. Overall, this fuel treatment resulted in: (1) increased penetration of retardant to surface fuels; (2) improved visual contact between fire crews and the Incident Commander; (3) safe access to the main fire; and (4) quick suppression of spot fires. This treatment was relatively small and isolated from other fuel treatments but resulted in decreased severity, suppression costs and post-fire rehabilitation needs, leading to cost savings for local public and private land managers.

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A financial analysis of establishing poplar plantations for carbon offsets using Alberta and British Columbia’s afforestation protocols

Canadian Journal of Forest Research ◽

10.1139/cjfr-2014-0097 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 45 (2) ◽

pp. 207-216 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Jay A. Anderson ◽

Amanda Long ◽

M.K. (Marty) Luckert

Keyword(s):

British Columbia ◽

Public Relations ◽

Greenhouse Gas Emission ◽

Financial Analysis ◽

Hybrid Poplar ◽

Carbon Offsets ◽

Private Land ◽

Short Rotation ◽

Standing Timber ◽

Carbon Prices

Both Alberta and British Columbia allow the use of carbon offsets for meeting government greenhouse gas emission targets, but the provinces have different offset protocols. In British Columbia, afforested lands may be harvested yet still receive carbon offsets, whereas in Alberta, according to a yet-to-be-approved draft protocol, offsets could be contingent upon afforested lands being set aside as conservation easements. Our work considers the regulatory differences between the provincial carbon protocols as they impact the financial viability of afforestation projects in Alberta and British Columbia. Our results suggest that carbon prices would have to rise to approximately $150 per tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e) before conservation afforestation projects using balsam poplar would be financially viable in Alberta. However, afforesting and harvesting short-rotation hybrid poplar in British Columbia yields financially viable results under current carbon prices if stumpage prices for standing timber were to rise above $50·m–3. There may be other incentives such as the benefits from public relations associated with planting trees that may lead to the implementation of some afforestation carbon offset projects. However, it appears that financial considerations present a significant barrier, making it unlikely that afforestation of private land will play a significant role in generating carbon offsets for Alberta or British Columbia.

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Wind parks in post-crisis Greece: Neoliberalisation vis-à-vis green grabbing

Environment and Planning E Nature and Space ◽

10.1177/2514848619835156 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 2 (2) ◽

pp. 274-303 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Zoi Christina Siamanta

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Economic Crisis ◽

Global Climate Change ◽

Structural Adjustment ◽

Global Climate ◽

Private Land ◽

Ecological Distribution ◽

Public And Private ◽

Private And Public ◽

Energy Companies

This article explores the growth of wind parks in post-crisis Greece in the convergence of the Greek economic crisis, the country’s structural adjustment and global climate change. It illuminates an ongoing process of nature’s neoliberalisation defined by specific measures and strategies. These have facilitated a wave of green grabbing (public and private land, financial and natural resources) in Greece by mostly transnational (energy) companies. Green grabbing is leading to unfavourable consequences for local shepherds and farmers, domestic and small business electricity consumers, conservation and local biodiversity, as well as to ecological distribution conflicts. Private wind parks in post-crisis Greece serve as a socioecological fix to the Greek economic crisis and climate change. The article finally argues that large private and public-private wind parks are far from innocent. Rather, hiding under green and economic growth/recovery credentials, they represent a vehicle for the reproduction and expansion of capitalism with important socioecological implications varying in each context necessitating urgent empirical exploration.

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The legacy of pasture improvement causes recruitment failure in grassy eucalypt woodland conservation reserves in the Midlands of Tasmania

Australian Journal of Botany ◽

10.1071/bt18222 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 67 (7) ◽

pp. 558 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Louise M. Romanin ◽

Lynda D. Prior ◽

David J. M. S. Bowman

Keyword(s):

Fire Disturbance ◽

Eucalyptus Species ◽

Landscape Conservation ◽

Private Land ◽

Private Lands ◽

Tree Recruitment ◽

Public And Private ◽

Recruitment Failure ◽

Eucalypt Woodlands ◽

And Function

Australia’s most fragmented and least reserved landscapes are the grassy eucalypt woodlands of the south-east. Two hundred years of agricultural disruption have transformed these landscapes, and agricultural enterprises continue to expand and develop, meaning the threats to these landscapes have not abated. The Tasmanian Midlands is primarily privately owned, with very little area devoted to conservation of biodiversity. In this landscape, conservation covenants have been enacted on many private properties with the intention of encouraging tree recruitment and conservation of threatened plant communities and rare species. Evidence of the effectiveness of these covenants in protecting overstorey tree population health is lacking. This study compared the demographic structures of overstorey Eucalyptus species and midstorey tree genera on public and private properties with contrasting land use histories. Reserves on private lands had little tree recruitment, probably because exotic pasture species were common, whereas tree recruitment was abundant in public reserves, where pasture improvement has not occurred. Active measures are needed to restore ecological structure and function in grassy woodland conservation reserves on private land by encouraging regeneration of Eucalyptus and Acacia species as well as returning the ground layer to a functionally native state. This will entail reinstating fire disturbance, reducing exotic pasture species cover and managing domesticated, feral and native herbivores.

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Intercropping with Switchgrass Improves Net Greenhouse Gas Balance in Hybrid Poplar Plantations on a Sand Soil

Soil Science Society of America Journal ◽

10.2136/sssaj2017.09.0294 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 81 (4) ◽

pp. 781

Author(s):

H.P. Collins ◽

P.A. Fay ◽

E. Kimura ◽

S. Fransen ◽

A. Himes

Keyword(s):

Greenhouse Gas ◽

Hybrid Poplar ◽

Sand Soil ◽

Greenhouse Gas Balance ◽

Poplar Plantations ◽

Gas Balance

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Urban Transport

10.1093/oso/9780190889760.003.0005 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

José van

Keyword(s):

Urban Areas ◽

Urban Transport ◽

Transport Sector ◽

Public And Private ◽

Transport Services ◽

Ride Sharing ◽

The World ◽

Private And Public ◽

Selection Mechanisms

Platformization affects the entire urban transport sector, effectively blurring the division between private and public transport modalities; existing public–private arrangements have started to shift as a result. This chapter analyzes and discusses the emergence of a platform ecology for urban transport, focusing on two central public values: the quality of urban transport and the organization of labor and workers’ rights. Using the prism of platform mechanisms, it analyzes how the sector of urban transport is changing societal organization in various urban areas across the world. Datafication has allowed numerous new actors to offer their bike-, car-, or ride-sharing services online; selection mechanisms help match old and new complementors with passengers. Similarly, new connective platforms are emerging, most prominently transport network companies such as Uber and Lyft that offer public and private transport options, as well as new platforms offering integrated transport services, often referred to as “mobility as a service.”

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Private Education

10.1093/oso/9780195037104.001.0001 ◽

1986 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Keyword(s):

Public Education ◽

Division Of Labor ◽

Private Education ◽

Point Of View ◽

The Other ◽

Public And Private ◽

Non Profit ◽

Or Groups ◽

Private And Public ◽

The Relationship

This book focuses on the relationship between private and public education in a comparative context. The contributors emphasize the relationship between private choices and public policy as they affect the division of labor between public and private non-profit schools, colleges, and universities. Their essays examine the kinds of choices offered by each sector, as well as the effects of present and proposed public policies on the intersectoral division of labor. Written from neither a pro-private nor a pro-public point of view, the contributors point to the ways in which they believe one sector or the other may be preferable for certain goals or groups.

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