DENVER – … an ongoing challenge to forest management in Colorado and throughout the West is finding profitable uses for the wood, or biomass, removed to make forests less susceptible to catastrophic wildfires. As part of this year’s recognition of National Forest Products Week – celebrated during the third week of October each year – Colorado is serving as the location for the first-ever gathering of forest products utilization specialists from states across the West, in the form of a newly formed Forest Utilization Network established by the Council of Western State Foresters (CWSF). CWSF is hosting the first event in Denver this week. …The new chair of the CWSF Forest Utilization Network, Forest Products Program Leader Adam Smith of the Nebraska Forest Service, says that the gathering in Denver will allow the states to establish a more effective strategy for biomass utilization across the West.