The WAEM Region of West Alabama and East Mississippi is one of the great forest production areas in the U.S. However, the current economic downturn is causing it to be one of the most devastated, too.
A “green” gold rush to biomass energy may lie in the near future.
These and other points came from research conducted by Ken Muehlenfeld, Phil Steele, and Jim Gober on behalf of the WAEM Region.
Muehlenfeld is director of the Auburn Forest 
Products Development Center. Steele is professor at the MSU Department of Forest Products. Gober is the principal at Biomass Resource Associates. They reviewed opportunities, challenges, and the status of the region’s forest industry with developers, growers, industry leaders, and others at two sets of roundtables held April 1 and 2 and June 10 and 11.
“Things are as bad as I’ve seen them,” said Muehlenfeld, who spent years in the forest products industry before joining Auburn. “Housing starts in the U.S. are down 70% hurting nearly all wood products markets. As a result pervasive capacity adjustments are taking place in the lumber and panel industries, pulp and paper demand has fallen sharply, and prices for solid wood products face an extended period of weakness.”
“We are in the starting phases of a green gold rush…”green” being biomass,” said Dr. Steele. “Biomass is the primary renewable energy source available for development in Alabama and Mississippi,” he added. Outside of the corn ethanol industry, wood is the most heavily targeted fuel and feedstock for new energy-related projects. Wood is very abundant in the Southeast and the infrastructure required to deliver wood is currently in place and understood.
“Biomass energy projects present an economic development opportunity for the WAEM Region,” said Dr. Steele. “An example is electric companies are changing and willing to buy energy from other sources.”
Muehlenfeld, however, cautioned there may be a noticeable gap between now – when the forestry products industry is suffering a significant downturn – and when biomass production come on line. “These technologies are not ready for production, yet,” he said, pointing to several demonstration projects around the country. He also said the pace of implementation of such new technologies will be encouraged or discouraged by the relative cost of traditional fuels.
The purpose of the four roundtables was to begin a look at the region’s greatest natural resource to determine what regional strategies, if any, should be formulated to preserve, expand, and attract new industries, including biomass and alternative fuel plants. The decision to focus on forest products came from a regional summit hosted by Governors Bob Riley and Haley Barbour. Advanced manufacturing, entrepreneurship, healthcare, and forest products were the priority industry clusters selected for regional strategy development.
The bi-state research team of Muehlenfeld, Steele, and Gober were recruited by the University of Alabama Center for Economic Development to study the region. The April 1 and 2 roundtables focused on sharing data and gaining feedback from industry professionals, developers, and growers. The June 10 and 11 roundtables focused on emerging technologies and new industry opportunities.
“These roundtables have helped to broaden our thinking for what the future will hold for the forestry base in the WAEM Region,” said Nisa Miranda, Director of the University Center of Economic Development at the University of Alabama.
Presenting at the June roundtables along with Dr. Steele, Muehlenfeld, and Gober were Gary Falkner with the Alabama Development Office and Monty Montgomery with the Mississippi Development Authority. (Click above for access to complete presentations.)
The WAEM Regional Initiative is made possible by a Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development grant from the U.S. Department of Labor under the auspices of Gov. Riley and Gov. Barbour.