Interior Department Awards $15 Million for Forest Thinning on
Public Lands May 27, 2009 The U.S. Department of the Interior
announced on May 21 that it will award $15 million to 55
projects that will thin overgrown forests and remove potential
fuels for wildfires on public lands. The American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act funds will create jobs in rural communities in
12 states, and many of the projects will produce biomass that
can be converted into energy. The so-called "hazardous fuels
reduction" projects include efforts to remove accumulated
deadwood and dense underbrush from forests near communities that
are susceptible to wildfires. The wood removed during such
projects is generally of a poor quality that is not wanted by
lumber mills, but it can serve as an excellent source of biomass
energy. The 55 projects are being carried out under the Interior
Department's Wildland Fire Management program, and 23 of them
are specifically designated as biomass utilization projects.
Those 23 biomass energy projects