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Unfortunately the kind of Albizia we have here has low BTU content, so it makes lousy firewood... including pellets for stoves.
The only commercial use for this kind of Albizia is for papermaking. There was a Japanese enterprise looking into harvesting local Albizia wood for paper at one time, but it was a victim of the economic crash of 2008.
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Just saw a message from a friend who is bringing back mushroom plugs from the mainland to employ their many sawed-up albiza logs. There's enough down timber in Puna to start an export mushroom industry! Shade, moisture, a drill for the plugs and some albizia logs are all you need.
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over 8 million pounds has been hauled to green waste by private citizens & 2002 tons have been hauled to Sanfords by commercial haulers
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Any news of a buyer, or where it is all going to go besides mulch mountain? If the mayor and governor worked on this, it would be a pretty big boost to the coffers. Use the inmates for labor in cleaning up in the State forests and Homestead lands, with the income from homesteads to go to native peoples, state wood funds would go to local infrastructure upgrades. Just a thought...
Community begins with Aloha
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The Albizia had just gone through the bloom and make seed cycle before the storm hit. Unfortunately the storm probably blew seed far and wide into previously albizia free areas.
Carol
Carol
Every time you feel yourself getting pulled into other people's nonsense, repeat these words: Not my circus, not my monkeys.
Polish Proverb
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quote:
Originally posted by Tink
... Use the inmates for labor in cleaning up ..
There is no way in heck the local unions would let inmates take any of their work.
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They can if there is enough work and they hire them as apprentices in the trade so they are journey level when let out. If it's a career that will change their life, why not?
Community begins with Aloha
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There were 49 testimonies before the county council from the ZERO WASTE group a couple weeks ago. Seems like it's time for them to put up or shut up. Since the county council testimonies are recorded, it would be easy to go back and write down the names of the 49 ZERO WASTE testifiers and see how they are handling their brush and rubbish in ZERO WASTE mode right now. No doubt, when the ZERO WASTE zombie army gets to work, there won't even be need for a transfer station.
"We come in peace!" - First thing said by missionaries and extraterrestrials
*Japanese tourist on bus through Pahoa, "Is this still America?*
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LD - Actually the Kalani inmates have been used for many projects around the island for years, in fact, the closing of Kalani reigned in many conservation projects, as their workforce was the main one used for many of the fence and eradication projects...
I would love to see them back in the workforce!
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I am surprised that nobody has brought up biomass generation as an option. With the constant supply of biomass material just from the invasive species - especially right now - I wonder of it could be practical and cost effective. It sure would beat the cost of importing the bunker oil that we use right now. And while it would never be able to eliminate the need for outside energy sources, it could mitigate the need to some extent. We surely have to have enough albizia material for at least a small generation plant.
We tried it in Nederland Colorado a few years ago, and the project failed because of outside influences, not because of the viability of the technology. I am concerned that those same socio-political struggles could be an issue here too. However, it certainly can't be any worse than in Nederland.
It could provide a demand for the invasive species biomass material, which could then motivate the collection of invasive species. Perhaps even incentivize it. And it would provide a method for dealing with the waste stream problem that invasive species eradication struggles with.
