Thriving Forests Rely on Thriving Forest Products — From Surfboards to Biofuels

Wood surfboard against a wall with small couch to right.

With help from a Forest Service Wood Innovations Grant, local Hawaiian business Bizia Surf is converting invasive albizia trees into surfboards. The Albizia Project mission sums it up best — “Invasive species are just a resource misplaced.” (Photo courtesy of Bizia.)

Andrew Avitt
Pacific Southwest Region
Nov. 13, 2023

An abundance of wood products and a booming timber industry might seem at odds with thriving forest ecosystems. However, the USDA Forest Service and partners are constantly exploring new ways to grow markets that can support healthy forests.

Helena Murray, the Pacific Southwest Region’s Wood and Biomass Utilization program manager, works with dozens of partners across industry, academia, community organizations, and state and local governments. Together,  everyone helps support innovative forest products in California, Hawai’i and the U.S.-Affiliated Pacific Islands.

“Forests provide so many benefits to society, including a variety of products,” said Murray. “When we talk about forest products, we’re talking about an amazing list — mushrooms, berries, pine cones, Christmas trees, seeds, lumber, plywood, cross-laminated timber, and electricity. Add to that gin, maple syrup, oak barrels for aging wine and whiskey, hydrogen, biochar, pencils, baseball bats, toothpicks and more.”

Humans have been using forest products for food, shelter and medicine throughout history. Forest products use and marketing is a field as old as forestry in the United States. And now, new technological developments are creating opportunities to use forest resources like never before, revitalizing the field.

“For example, mass timber, an innovation that bonds layers of wood together to make larger stronger building materials, can replace concrete and steel in constructing larger buildings,” said Murray. “In downtown Oakland, the tallest mass timber building in the West is under construction — an 18-story apartment building — signaling changes in the industry and new opportunities.”

Murray, a forester by training and also a student of conservation economics, has always been interested in how forests interact with society.

“There is so much opportunity to connect markets with the wood that we need to remove from our forests, to contribute to local economies while also supporting healthy ecosystems,” said Murray. “California has a robust timber industry in many parts of the state with a rich history of forest management and wood production. What we are exploring today is not so much a return to the past but looking into the future, to leverage markets to help us reach our 21st-century forest resilience goals.”

For Murray, a few recent examples of industry partners come to mind.

Eliminating Invasives and Making Surfboards

Invasive species are one challenge that land managers face across the country. They come in many forms — disease, parasite, plant or animal — but they all have one thing in common. They don’t belong in an ecosystem and can cause real harm to the environment.

In Hawai’i, The Albizia Project is converting invasive albizia trees into surfboards. With a $250,000 Forest Service Wood Innovation Grant, the company was able to launch Bizia Surf, a line of surfboards crafted from invasive trees.

“It’s awesome. They’re converting this material that has little or no value and is bad for that particular ecosystem into high-quality, high-performance surfboards,” said Murray.

Emerging Biofuels

The removal of low-value wood, or biomass, is a common challenge in forests. Biomass is woody material including limbs, tops of trees, and small trees that are removed in timber harvesting or fuels reduction that typically have a low market value. Since there is not much that can be made with this wood, it is often burned on site to reduce fuel levels in the forest. 

But biomass can be used to create energy, and there’s a market for that.

The Forest Service is working with partners, including the State of California, to invest in biomass energy facilities across the state. And the market for energy doesn’t just include electricity production. “We are also supporting emerging companies on exploring how to convert biomass into high-value, advanced biofuels like hydrogen, renewable diesel, and aviation fuel,” said Murray.

Wildfire Recovery and Time-Sensitive Wood Products

One persistent challenge faced by the Forest Service and land managers in recent years is the increased supply of burned timber from wildfires. A study funded by the Forest Service and CalFire examined the economic impacts of large fires from 2018 to 2021. The report found catastrophic wildfire has had a major impact on the timber industry that will likely affect wood supply into the future.

“One of our partners, a family-owned sawmill in Northern California, was heavily affected by the Dixie Fire,” said Murray. “So a Forest Service grant was used to upgrade the mill to more efficiently process the burned trees and start recovering from that fire.”

It may seem counterintuitive but robust salvage work after a large wildfire also reduces the risk of future wildfires.

Once a tree dies, the clock starts ticking to harvest and turn it into a high-value wood product. After that timeframe, fungi and insects will eventually colonize the wood and decrease the structural integrity.

“So there’s a race against time after fires. Because the longer we wait to remove a tree, the more dangerous it gets in the field. They become less valuable and also harder to extract. This can lead to dead trees being left on the landscape with the potential to dry out, fuel future fires, and hinder reforestation efforts.”

Current Challenges and Future Markets

“Right now, the wood products industry and existing infrastructure reflect previous levels of land management,” said Murray. “But the scale of forest management to meet our forest resilience goals has increased dramatically. The Forest Service and partners are implementing projects across entire landscapes, and these land management activities will make more wood and biomass available.”

This increased scope of work can be seen in the agency’s emphasis on reducing wildfire risk in “Confronting the Wildfire Crisis: A Strategy for Protecting Communities and Improving Resilience in America’s Forests.” (Leer en español.) Add to that the unprecedented funding by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act that will directly protect at-risk communities and critical infrastructure.

This 10-year strategy will require removing trees and vegetation from overstocked forests or salvaging timber from burned forests on an unprecedented scale. By creating markets and outlets for these materials, industry becomes invaluable to getting that work done.

“There isn’t going to be a single solution to any of these issues here in California, Hawai’i, the Pacific Islands, or across the country. That’s why we are always looking for new partners to work with on a new idea or helping fund projects and businesses to have an impact on the ground within the next few years. It’s a win-win situation. We’re helping the forest, helping the environment, and creating valuable products and services for society.”

Learn more about the Region 5 Wood and Biomass Utilization Program.