(California News Service) Wednesday is National Bioenergy Day, which raises awareness about local renewable wood energy markets that convert waste wood into energy. 

66 million dead trees are piling up in California forests, making the state vulnerable to destructive mega-fires such as the one that wiped out the town of Paradise in 2018. 

Helena Murray, biomass and wood utilization program manager for the U.S. Forest Service said the agency is teaming up with the state of California to treat one million acres of forest each year.

"Fire prevention work can include removing some trees to make more space so that there's less likelihood of severe fires happening, and fuels reduction so that we can restore our forests to a more resilient ecosystem," Murray explained. 

Biomass plants use waste wood from the forests and scrap wood from construction to create steam that turns a turbine to make electricity. The process does release some carbon dioxide but Murray said it cuts down on criteria pollutants by 95% compared to open burning. The resulting ash is used as bedding in livestock pens to reduce mud.

Julee Malinowski-Ball, executive director of the California Biomass Energy Alliance, said bioenergy can help California meet its renewable-energy goals. 

"You have all this waste that you need to do something with, and you might as well create a co-benefit to disposing of it. So you take wood waste that is piling up, send it to a bioenergy facility and generate renewable electricity, as opposed to putting it in a landfill," she explained.

Other forms of bioenergy include gas harvested from municipal solid waste and from dairy farms.