Quantification of biomass availability for wood harvesting and storage in the continental United States with a carbon cycle model

Wood Harvesting and Storage (WHS) is a form of Biomass Carbon Removal and Storage (BiCRS) that utilizes a combined natural and engineered process to harvest woody biomass and put it into long term storage, most frequently in the form of subterranean burial. This paper aims to quantify the availability of woody biomass for the purposes of WHS in the continental United States using a carbon cycle modeling approach. Using a regional version of the VEGAS terrestrial carbon cycle model at 10 km resolution, this paper calculates the annual woody net primary production in the continental United States. It then applies a series of constraints to exclude woody biomass that is unavailable for WHS. These constraints include fine woody biomass, current land use, current wood utilization, land conservation, and topographical limitations. These results were then split into state by state and regional totals.