Jeff Greef, of Plumas Wood Fiber, will present his plans to make a factory in Plumas County to process excess forest biomass into a potting product for the California horticultural industry. The presentation Wednesday, March 27, starts at 5 p.m. at the West End Theatre in Quincy. It is part of the Quincy Firewise community meeting.
California forests have a buildup of excess biomass because of fire suppression, Greef reports. He is trying to reduce that excess to reduce wildfire severity, but it’s a big expensive task. Commercializing the biomass will bring in funds from outside markets to help pay the cost. Plumas Wood Fiber plans to process biomass into a substitute for peat moss.
The horticultural industry needs a substitute for peat moss, Greef said. Supplies of peat from Canada have been reduced due to climate change, and peat has greenhouse gas issues. Engineered wood fiber has been proven to work as a substitute for peat in potting mixes in Europe and the East Coast, but it isn’t being produced in California. The horticulture industry uses wood fiber now, but they have to bring it in from out of state. “Let’s use California biomass for California horticulture,” Greef said.
The biomass he plans to use is wood chips that come from the small and dead trees cut as part of forest management projects by the U.S. Forest Service and others. Special machines will be obtained to make the engineered wood fiber product, which Greef says large commercial nursery growers need and want.
Greef’s slide presentation will include developments and progress made on the project, answer questions and generally discuss biomass use in Plumas County. The presentation will also be available on Zoom at https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88657604762?pwd=bFgMRbcH8EkBBtUlC98ovAPtb9qOAb.1. For more information about Plumas Wood Fiber, visit https://www.plumaswoodfiber.com/.
Information provided by Plumas Wood Fiber