Carrying capacity assessment of forest resources: Enhancing environmental sustainability in energy production at local scale

• Sustainability assessment of forest biomass chains should integrate multifaceted carrying capacity concept.
• A methodology for calculating wood and energy potentials from forest plans is presented.
• A GIS-based tool ensures site-specific calculation of available mass and energy potentials.
• Two case studies are presented highlighting contribution to local decision-making process.

Wood fuels are recognized as a crucial energy source whose sustainable use should be ensured. To ensure sustainability, the calculation of the annual available biomass is one of the bases of forest management. The novelty of our study stem from an extended evaluation of the carrying capacity for taking into account different site-specific – as well condition-specific – aspects usually neglected. In the case of natural mixed forests, local management plans define the criteria to be adopted in the land management identify the main functions of the forest plots. However, for ensure sustainable forest management, ecological and technical local constraints should be assessed in details in order to quantify wood potentially available. As a standardized procedure for this comprehensive wood availability is missing, the present study propose a GIS-based decision support system (DSS) and methodology for calculating the biomass availability while supporting the local resource planning. In particular, we focus on the environmental sustainability of bio-energy production. In fact, applying the DSS, it is possible to calculate three indicators: operational carrying capacity (OCC), chip potential (CP) and technical potential (TP). Those indicators are related, respectively, to the availability of wood from forests according to local plans criteria, the potential of wood chips production, and the comparison of total available biomass with current uses. The DDS considers the actual uses of the resource, supporting local planners in properly assess the forestry sector and its possible developments. Two case studies on alpine mountain areas are presented and discussed in light of contributing to face the challenge of energy planning at local scale. The DDS allow calculating the number of chip fueled boilers which could be installed in the areas, using local resource below their carrying capacity. DSS application helps highlighting some challenges in resource planning and use at local scale.