Thermochemical biomass conversion systems have the potential to produce heat, power, fuels and other products from forest biomass at distributed scales that meet the needs of some forest industry facilities. However, many of these systems have not been deployed in this sector and the products they produce from forest biomass have not been adequately described or characterized with regards to chemical properties, possible uses, and markets. This paper characterizes the producer gas, biochar, and activated carbon of a 700 kg h⁻¹ prototype gasification system and a 225 kg h⁻¹ pyrolysis system used to process coniferous sawmill and forest residues. Producer gas from sawmill residues processed with the gasifier had higher energy content than gas from forest residues, with averages of 12.4 MJ m⁻³ and 9.8 MJ m⁻³, respectively. Gases from the pyrolysis system averaged 1.3 MJ m⁻³ for mill residues and 2.5 MJ m⁻³ for forest residues. Biochars produced have similar particle size distributions and bulk density, but vary in pH and carbon content. Biochars from both systems were successfully activated using steam activation, with resulting BET surface area in the range of commercial activated carbon. Results are discussed in the context of co-locating these systems with forest industry operations.

Uncertainty as to the extent and magnitude of changes in conditions that might occur due to climate change poses a problem for land and resource managers as they seek to adapt to changes and mitigate effects of climate variability. We illustrate using scenarios of projected future conditions on rangelands in the Northern Great Plains and Desert Southwest of the United States. These two regions are different in the ways climate change is projected to affect the regions. Projection of a longer and warmer growing season in the Northern Great Plains could lead to increased forage production and land productivity. Highly uncertain effects on summer monsoons that primarily control rangeland productivity in the Desert Southwest, combined with the possibility of more intense and/or frequent drought events, could present land managers with challenges stemming from decreased forage production and land productivity. Climate projections, though uncertain, provide land managers with basic insight into future conditions they might encounter. They need more. A focus on vulnerability and resilience, with explicit recognition of interactions between ecological and socio‐economic factors, coupled with systematic monitoring and assessment of observable conditions on the land to supplement information based on climate projections, will more effectively provide critical and specific information managers need to adaptively manage rangelands under uncertain climate futures.

Bark beetles are primary disturbance agents in western US forests. Outbreaks affect goods and services associated with forest ecosystems including timber, water, fish and wildlife habitats and populations, recreation opportunities, and many others. They can also affect wildfire behavior and its intensity. Assessments and evaluations of such impacts are important information to land managers, policy makers, and forest stakeholders, as well as to the broader public. Arriving at a complete and accurate assessment and evaluation is a complex process that necessarily considers effects and impacts on a variety of resources affecting diverse stakeholders over time and space. Within that complex process are interactions and feedbacks between ecological factors and socioeconomic factors. We argue that ecosystem goods and services are an operative bridge between those ecological factors and socioeconomic factors. Hence, they provide a context in which to systematically identify effects and affected resources and consider interactions and feedbacks among them which lead to further impacts. Such a context enhances one’s ability to reveal, assess, and evaluate the full range and scope of impacts.