It does have some impressively thick bark. I bet good percentage of the btus in cottonwood is in the bark, but I'm not a big fan of stuffing a stove full of the stuff (lots of ash).
OOPH! That's a tough one. That's a lot more then SOME cottonwood. How soon could you process it? Are you a hand or hydro splitter? At least it isn't all gnarly/knotty. I agree with the loosening bark and slime factor. Dealt with it mainly on black locust. Prefer to process any wood ASAP in warm weather for that reason. Bucked, stacked off the ground and top covered should help with the deterioration factor. With ample other SS woods here its not some I take unless a small amount and its easy to grab. Love Norway myself. Easier splitting of the maple IME and make nice splits too. Plentiful around here, but don't score it often enough.
Find a mill or pallet manufacturer, see if they are interested in some nice large diameter cottonwood logs of various lengths. I believe that a lot of pallets are made from cottonwood.
