Sustainable woodlot

We are constantly being told that we need to look for sustainable energy.

That does not include oil, foreign or domestic, or natural gas, both of which are not renewable energy sources.

This leaves us with fewer choices, such as wind and solar or the old standby, wood.

We see trees around us, even in new housing developments.

If we assume that heating with wood is the most cost-effective and sustainable process, then should we not look to see if we can sustain that process within our town boundary?

Of course we should. We need to determine if we could all heat with wood in Methuen.

Is there enough of this sustainable product for all the citizens?

The sad answer is, NO. We could not sustain that within our boundaries.

How did you determine that?

Research shows that each household would require about 4-5 cords of wood per year.

Remember that some households would use more and some less than the above quoted amount.

In order to properly manage that requirement about 10.5 acres of properly managed woodland is needed.

Methuen is about 22.4 square miles in area. There are 640 acres per square mile.

So, Methuen has a total of 14,336 acres within our border.

How much acreage would we need?

Methuen has about 16,885 household units

At 10.5 acres per household that works out to 177,293 acres total.

Our requirement are for about 277 square miles of land.
That land can be forest land, no housing or industry or farming, just managed forest.

I have not taken into account all the forest land, beside the Town Forest, that is owned by the City of Methuen.

Nor have I accounted for individuals who may own 10-11 acres of forest land within the city borders
Based on the above numbers, Methuen can only support, in a perfect world, about 1365 households.

It seems obvious that this is not an option for all the residents of Methuen.

However, we do have forest land and that is a good thing. Forests provide more than just firewood. They provide habitat for wildlife and are a huge part of the ecosystem that sustains us.

The City needs to start a management program to assure a continued supply of firewood to those who decide to use it and a healthy growth of trees to keep our air clean and healthy.


admin posted at 2009-12-11 Category: Uncategorized

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