Forecasting the spatial distribution of logging residues across the Canadian managed forest

There is a growing interest in using logging residues as feedstock in the bioeconomy. Quantifying the amount of this resource over large areas has been difficult due to the lack of availability of and consistency in forest inventorydata across jurisdictions and the lack of a clear definition of what constitutes logging residues. The goal of this study was to develop an approach to spatially estimate the amounts of logging residues that would potentially be available in the near future for public landsacross the Canadian managed forest using remote sensing maps and to compare these estimates with field assessments. Remote sensing estimates of branch and foliage biomass, although only a fraction of total postharvestresidual biomass, were generally comparable with estimates from field assessments of recoverable residues after harvesting at the forest management unit (FMU) scale or at the 100 km2 scale. However, they tended to not capture the strong variability between sites and to underestimate observed f...