Bioenergy is expected to contribute to mitigating climate change. One major source for bioenergy is woody biomass from forests, including logging residues, stumps, and whole trees from young dense stands. However, at increased extraction rates of woody biomass, the forest ecosystem, its biodiversity, and its ability to contribute to fundamental ecosystem services will be affected. We used simulation and optimization techniques to assess the impact of different management strategies on the supply of bioenergy and the trade-offs between wood fuel harvesting, biodiversity, and three other ecosystem services—reindeer husbandry, carbon storage, and recreation. The projections covered 100 years and a forest area of 3 million ha in northern Sweden. We found that the development of novel and cost-effective management systems for biomass outtake from young dense stands may provide options for a significant supply of bioenergy to the emerging bioeconomy, while at the same time securing biodiversity and important ecosystem values in future stand developments. In addition, there is potential to increase the extraction of harvest residues and stumps while simultaneously improving conditions for biodiversity and the amount of carbon stored in forest ecosystems compared to current levels. However, the projected continuing trend of increased forest density (in terms of basal area) has a negative impact on the potential for reindeer husbandry and recreation, which calls for researching new management strategies on landscape levels.

Research Highlights: The use of terminals can increase supply costs by 5–11% (when compared to direct supply), but terminals help secure supply during peak demand and cope with operational problems in the supply fleet in cases where direct supply chains would be unable to meet demand on time. Background and Objectives: This work analyses the supply cost of chipped logging residues and small-diameter trees, from chipping at roadside storages to delivery to the end-user. Factors considered include demand curves (based on the requirements of a theoretical combined heat and power plant or biorefinery); demand volume; and mode of supply (direct or combined via terminal). The impact of longer trucking distances from the sites, and supply integration between forest and other land (varying relocation distances) was also assessed. Materials and Methods: The operational environment and work of a theoretical chip supplier in northern Sweden were modelled and simulated in ExtendSim^®. Results: The mean supply cost of chips was 9% higher on average for combined chains than for direct chains. Given a high demand, 8% of the annual demand could not be delivered on time without using a terminal. High supply integration of forest and other land reduced supply costs by 2%. Contractors’ annual workloads were evened out by direct supply to the biorefinery (which has a relatively steady demand) or supply via-terminal independently of the end-user. Keeping distinct chips from different sites (implying that trucks were not always fully loaded) instead of mixing chips from different sites until the trucks were fully loaded increased supply costs by 12%. Conclusions: Terminals increase supply costs, but can enable demand to be met on time when direct supply chains alone might fail. Integrated supply planning could reduce supply costs by increasing the utilization of residual biomass from other land.

Young, dense forest in Finland and Sweden urgently need to receive first thinning. In such stands, conventional selective thinning methods make the harvester work time consuming and, thus, costly. To make small-sized trees economically competitive as raw material for bioenergy and biorefining, new harvesting technologies and/or thinning methods need to be developed. A potential solution is boom-corridor thinning (BCT), rendering effective cutting work. The aim of this study was to describe and compare the stand structure of two Scots pine stands ( L.) and one birch-dominated ( Roth with natural downy birch, Ehrh.) stand after BCT and selective thinning at the first thinning phase. Furthermore, simulations were conducted to predict the future stand development after the first thinning treatments. The density of the growing stock was 16–46% higher after BCT treatment than after selective thinning because BCT stands included more small and supressed trees with a dbh < 100 mm. However, the numbers of future crop trees with a dbh > 140 mm per hectare were at the same level in both treatments. The stem volume removal per hectare did not differ between treatments. However, simulation of stand development and intermediate thinning and clearcutting revealed that the total removal volume was 10–18% higher in BCT stands compared to selectively thinned ones. The saw log volumes harvested did, however, not differ between treatments. This study shows that BCT generates stands with higher biodiversity compared to conventional thinning as higher levels of biomass removal can be reached throughout stand rotations.Pinus sylvestris Betula pendula B. pubescens

The review discusses the potential of mechanized thinning operations with variable corridor patterns as a method to secure multiple ecosystem services. The focus is on young and dense forests, which are increasingly abundant in Northern Europe and a potential source of renewable biomass for the needs of future bioeconomy. Conventional selective (motor-manual) pre-commercial thinning (PCT) without outtake of cut biomass is used as a benchmark to evaluate a new mechanized thinning method: boom corridor thinning (BCT). The paucity of specific studies on the environmental effects of BCT limits systematic and quantitative comparisons. However, information extrapolated from studies on selective or other corridor thinnings suggests that BCT potentiates early outtake of forest biomass for energy or biorefineries while simultaneously maintaining the stand structure’s vertical heterogeneity and thereby supporting biodiversity. More experimental evidence is urgently needed to elucidate the detailed environmental consequences of BCT, and especially its effects on biodiversity and carbon balance. The increasing need to evaluate the pros and cons of silvicultural operations against a broad range of ecosystem benefits necessitates a holistic approach and the development of new typologies and indices that better reflect the structural properties of forest stands.

The objective was to study the effect of future harvesting and handling technologies on the cost and energy efficiency of supply chains for young dense thinnings. The system costs and energy requirements were modeled using type of stands, products delivered, and transport distances as variables. In total, 14 systems were analyzed, of which five represented future systems. The effects of increasing the payloads of off-road and road transportation of whole tree (WT) parts by 10%, 20%, and 30% were also analyzed. If boom-corridor thinning technologies, optimized bundle-harvesters, and load-compression devices are developed, on average, costs are reduced by 12–27% and 11–30% less energy is required when compared with present systems. For example, at an average harvested tree size of 22 dm³, the supply of WT using future technologies would reduce the cost by up to 15% and the energy requirements by 21%. These effects increase with reduced tree sizes and increased transportation distances. The effects of future technologies are especially significant for tree sizes below 30 dm³, representing a significant part of the potential that could be harvested annually in Sweden. Thus, there should be increased research and development of boom-corridor felling technology, bundle-harvesters, and load-compression devices.