SB13-273: Incentives for Beneficial Use of Forest Biomass

• Authorizes Colorado State Forest Service to value forest materials on state lands at lowest market value to incentivize utilization of forest biomass products.

• Requires communities in high-risk wildfire zones (Red Zones) adopting wildfire protection plans to develop optional plans for community-based utilization of forest biomass for energy, fuels, and forest products.

• Empowers State Forester to assist communities in identifying, contracting for, and securing forest biomass feedstock primarily from high-risk areas to support forest products industries.

• Directs air quality commission to analyze biomass equipment emissions standards, identify compliant equipment, and publicly post parameters for biomass equipment under one million British thermal units per hour.

• Expands definition of "forest health project" to include harvesting woody vegetation for production of energy, fuels, forest products, or other applications.