Will energy crops put pressure on forests in the United States, including U.S. National Forests?
There are extensive lands in pasture, annual row crops, and idle lands that have been identified as available for production of biomass crops. These lands would be much less expensive to convert to biomass crop production than natural forests, so there should be no increased pressure on national forests. BFDP is encouraging sustainable production of biomass crops for energy. Preliminary economic analysis suggests that the production of short-rotation woody crops (SRWC) can actually reduce the pressure on natural forests. With 3-10 times the productivity of natural forests or traditional plantations, SRWC can readily substitute for many forest species in fiber uses, at competitive prices.
