West Virginia Universitys Division of Forestry and National Resources is heading to the Mountain States Eastern Panhandle to host the conference,Appalachian Woody Biomass to Ethanol,Sept. 5-6 at the National Conservation Training Center, in Shepherdstown.

The state, conference organizers say, is right at home with the subject matter.

West Virginia is the third most heavily forested state in the nation and still has abundant woody biomass resources,said Jingxin Wang, an associate professor of wood science and technology at WVU .

Woody biomass includes tree parts like limbs, tops and needles leftover from harvesting. Woodchips and sawdust are counted, too.

Some 10 tons of residues per acre remain on site after a typical harvest, Wang said, and those scraps have value of their own.

The idea of the conference, he said, is to look at whether the value of the biomass byproducts can increase with the introduction of regional ethanol production facilities.

This conference will explore the opportunities and obstacles that the wood products industry in West Virginia and the Appalachian region must address relative to ethanol production,Wang said.

Topics include national and regional biomass availability, policies, conversion and harvest technologies in the region. The target audience is anyone who buys, sells or produces wood residues to feed the states ever-growing wood products industry.

WVU s Division of Forestry and Natural Resources is sponsoring the conference with West Virginias Division of Energy in the State Department of Commerce.

Visitwww.wvuethanol.comfor a full schedule and to register online. The $125 registration fee includes meals and lodging. Registration deadline is Aug. 25.

For more information, contact event coordinator Sue Dimmick at sue.dimmick@mail.wvu.edu or 304-293-2941, ext. 2490.