TY - JOUR AU - Nakamura, Gary M. TI - Harvesting forest biomass reduces wildfire fuel JF - California Agriculture JO - Calif Agr Y1 - 1996/03/01 VL - 50 IS - 2 SP - 13 EP - 16 PB - University of California Agriculture and Nature Resources SN - 0008-0845 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.3733/ca.v050n02p13 L3 - 10.3733/ca.v050n02p13 AB - Years of drought, tree mortality due to insects and the successful suppression of forest fires over the past century have created dense stands of trees and shrubs. This buildup is potentially dangerous as a reservoir of fuel for uncontrollable wildfires in California forests. The advent of biomass power plants has made removal of excess plant material from the forest economically feasible, reducing wildfire hazard and preparing fire-adapted forests for reintroduction of prescribed fire.