With the southeastern U.S. supplying over 80% of America’s wood pellets—most of which are exported to Europe—questions about the sustainability of pellet feedstock harvesting are more relevant than ever.
Posts Tagged ‘Operations & Management’
05.06.2025
Evaluating the Environmental Impact of Pellet Feedstock Harvesting in the Southeastern U.S.
A new study by UGA researchers compared 67 harvest sites across the southeastern U.S. to evaluate whether wood pellet feedstock harvesting differs from conventional pulpwood operations in terms of soil disturbance, ground cover, and wildlife habitat.
04.23.2025
Smarter Forest Planning with Heuristic Optimization
Forest managers face a complex puzzle: how to schedule timber harvests that are profitable, sustainable, and legally compliant. Traditional planning methods can be slow and rigid, but threshold accepting, a powerful heuristic optimization technique, can be designed to generate high-quality harvest schedules quickly.
03.05.2025
Modernizing Machine Cost Estimation for Logging Equipment in the Southeast
If you’re in the forest industry, you’ve probably used—or at least heard of—the machine-rate method for estimating equipment costs. UGA researchers recently updated the costs for the first time in 20 years.
01.12.2025
Log Trucking vs. General Freight: What the Forest Industry Needs to Know
The forest products industry in the US South relies heavily on log trucks to move raw timber from forests to mills. But how does this specialized sector compare to general freight trucking? A 2025 review by Jack Derochers, Joe Conrad, and researchers from UGA and the USDA Forest Service provides a comprehensive comparison.
12.17.2024
Rethinking Timber Truck Safety: What Georgia’s 95,000 lbs Permit Study Tells Us
A recent 2024 study by Joe Conrad and Chad Bolding analyzed the impact of a temporary increase in Georgia log truck haul weight permits, from to 84,000 lbs to 95,000 lbs, issued during the COVID-19 pandemic. The result? Heavier log trucks did not lead to more crashes or more severe incidents.
07.01.2024
Assessing the Sustainability of Forest Biomass Harvesting in the Southeastern U.S.: A Review
As European renewable energy goals drive up demand for wood pellets, the southeastern U.S. has become a key supplier. But are our forests ready? A recent UGA research paper in Biomass and Bioenergy offers a comprehensive review of the environmental impacts of forest biomass harvesting, especially for wood pellet production.
