The proliferation of destructive wildfires in the western USA has made apparent the need to reevaluate forest management and related agency and business practices. This has resulted in a variety of policies and practices to enhance the utilization of woody biomass generated from associated fuel reduction efforts. The USDA Forest Service, for instance, is increasingly forming partnerships with local collaborative groups to encourage entrepreneurial investments to facilitate those fuel reduction efforts. These alliances among communities, non-profit organizations, and businesses illustrate elements of network governance in the way they coordinate actions and mobilize and exchange resources to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes. Few empirical studies, with regard to forest energy, have examined how these networks of loosely affiliated actors coordinate and mobilize resources to influence related state and federal policy, or the barriers to effective enterprise development. We draw upon network governance literature to examine four dimensions of these alliances: heterogeneity, integration, network structure, and operating function. This framework is applied to forest biomass utilization policy decisions in Northern California, a area experiencing repeated record-breaking wildfire events. Finally, we explore ways in which these governance attributes could impact the broader forest biomass industry and provide implications for future research.

在美国西部，毁灭性野火的蔓延已表明，有必要重新评估森林管理以及相关的代理和商业惯例。这导致了各种各样的政策和实践，以提高对减少燃料的努力所产生的木质生物质的利用。例如，美国农业部林业局正在与当地合作组织建立越来越多的伙伴关系，以鼓励企业投资以促进这些减少燃料的努力。社区，非营利组织和企业之间的这些联盟以协调行动，动员和交换资源以实现互惠互利的方式，说明了网络治理的要素。关于森林能源的实证研究很少，已经研究了这些松散关联的参与者网络如何协调和调动资源以影响相关的州和联邦政策，或有效企业发展的障碍。我们利用网络治理文献来研究这些联盟的四个维度：异构性，集成性，网络结构和运营功能。该框架适用于北加州（该地区经历了屡屡破纪录的野火事件）的森林生物质利用政策决策。最后，我们探索这些治理属性可以影响更广泛的森林生物质产业并为未来研究提供启示的方式。我们利用网络治理文献来研究这些联盟的四个维度：异构性，集成性，网络结构和运营功能。该框架适用于北加州（该地区经历了屡屡破纪录的野火事件）的森林生物质利用政策决策。最后，我们探索这些治理属性可以影响更广泛的森林生物质产业并为未来研究提供启示的方式。我们利用网络治理文献来研究这些联盟的四个维度：异构性，集成性，网络结构和运营功能。该框架适用于北加州（该地区经历了屡屡破纪录的野火事件）的森林生物质利用政策决策。最后，我们探索这些治理属性可以影响更广泛的森林生物质产业并为未来研究提供启示的方式。