Auction of Forest Biomass From Forested State Trust Lands

About 2.1 million acres of forested state trust lands are managed by Washington’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) throughout the state. Management activities on these lands earn revenue to build the state’s public schools and universities, and much more.

What is “forest biomass?”
Forest biomass is the by-products of current forest management activities, current forest protection treatments authorized by the agency, or the by-products of forest health treatment prescribed or permitted under Washington’s forest health law.  Forest biomass does not include chemically-treated wood such as those with creosote, pentachlorophenol, or copper-chrome-arsenic. Biomass is not wood from old growth forests, wood that is protected as habitat under the commitments of DNR’s 1997 Trust Lands Habitat Conservation Plan, or any required to be left on site under the state Forest Practices rules.

Under DNR’s ‘sustainable harvest’ for trust lands, the rights to harvest roughly 610 million board feet of are purchased by private businesses each year.

Forest biomass is an emerging market and a by-product of these traditional timber harvests. Forest biomass includes the limbs and small pieces of wood that are the by-product of cutting timber at a harvest area. At public auction, DNR is selling the rights to harvest forest biomass from specific sites.