Why These Materials Have a Value
Why should everything that is harvested from forests in WNC have a value? No one disagrees that small diameter trees and shrubs have value and can be used for something, but used enough to create a market? Without a market, the time spent harvesting these materials can never be recovered and this is precisely why, once felled, they are usually left to rot. This has been accepted in many cases in hopes of leaving this energy, this matter, to be recovered by the forest. Often this is the right idea, but usually it depends on what the expectations are for the use of the forest. On the flip side, this energy is also there to be used in the case of a forest fire. This material is often removed before a prescribed burn can occur in an effort to keep temperatures in check.
