Continued research in harvesting, utilization, and efficiency along with education will help move the industry forward into the future. When conversion technologies are in commerical use, the United States, particularly the South, can produce enormous volumes of energy and bio-chemical feedstocks that are renewable, sustainable, and expandable to meet the country's needs. This can be done without compromising air or water quality, wildlife habitat, or recreational opportunities on the land producing the wood feedstocks. One way to accomplish this is to conduct biomass harvests in forests that are close enough to energy plants to make such harvests economical.
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