I don’t see a problem with using wood to fire boilers to generate power….gives the loggers and others a steady income.... Land that is clear cut rebounds very quickly. My daughter owns 160 acres in northern Maine that was pretty much clear cut. She has owned it for ten years and it has regrown trees over twenty feet tall already.
All slash is not equal. The highest nutrient levels are found in the leaves and the "living" part of small branches, twigs, and tops. Depending on the type of cut, the prescription may be to lop and scatter this small material, which generally is a good result for soil protection and enhancing new growth. If the cut has a fairly large quantity of dead and dying mature trees not usable for pulp or saw logs, or a large quantity of large branches similarly not usable, then the large material poses a problem for forest health, as this large material attracts insect pests that, while doing a good job in decomposing the material, also do a good job in attacking healthy trees, which is not desirable. So, the prescription may call for gathering this large material, and ... burning it on site or chipping and sending it to a bio-energy facility. Most would agree that the bio-energy use is far better than burning on site.
All clear cuts also are not equal. Depending on the tree type, clear cuts may be essential for new growth that requires full sunlight, like some pines (red and jack), aspen, most oaks, etc. But clear cuts in other forest types may not be appropriate. For example, sugar maple and white pine grow well in the understory, and a select, shelter, or patch cut may be best.
In MN, MI, WI and Ontario, forest planning is moving towards a much heavier focus on long term forest health, which tends to require maintaining a diverse forest ecology, moving away from forest plantations of single species, and moving towards mixed forest types, mixed harvesting strategies, and restoring more native forest types on sites that have been artificially diverted to non-native forest types. Increase in destructive, invasive insects; increase in temperatures, particularly winter temperatures; increase in erratic rainfall and drought; and climate change all are encouraging diversity as probably the best way to plan for an uncertain future.
Increased use of the forest for large scale bio-energy also is a mixed bag. Many forest areas likely would benefit from removal of large quantities of dead and dying trees, removal of brush understory, and removal of mature trees for which their is no market and which soon will be dying. There is no magic bullet here. What is important IMO is achieving a goal of forest health for all living things and providing a economical, sustainable supply of pulp, lumber and energy. These are not necessarily incompatible, but achieving these goals is not simple or easy.