December 2004

USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station

New forest technologies for small-diameter timber

PULLMAN, Wash. December 6, 2004. Wood technology researchers, industry leaders, and government agency representatives are gathering December 14-15 to explore different ways to effectively use forest resources to reduce fire risk and restore forest health. Overstocked stands of dead and dying trees are a concern throughout the West because they increase the risk of insects, disease, and wildfire.

The Wood Utilization Solutions to Hazardous Fuels conference is scheduled for two locations: December 14 at Spokane's Red Lion at the Park and December 15 in Pullman at the Wood Materials Engineering Laboratory.

"Many forests burned across the West in the early 1900s. Since that time, fire exclusion and management practices have resulted in overstocked stands," explains Vikram Yadama, an associate professor in the Washington State University wood materials and engineering laboratory. "Today, these densely-stocked stands cover 63 million acres or 44 percent of the inland Northwest."

The workshop will showcase technology that effectively uses the wood material removed from overstocked forests to provide forest managers, planners, and community leaders with ways to improve both forest conditions and economic conditions of forest-based communities. "The key factors in selecting technology to use small-diameter timber include matching resource characteristics to the final product, lowering costs by looking at vertically integrated industries, and identifying opportunities to increase product value," says Eini Lowell, a research scientist at the Forest Service's Pacific Northwest Research Station. "Market potential, support industry requirements, and costs of capitalization of these technologies will also be addressed."

The symposium is sponsored by the Pacific Northwest Research Station/USDA Forest Service, Washington State University (WSU) Extension, and WSU Wood Materials and Engineering Laboratory. For more information and to register online visit http://www.emmps.wsu.edu/woodutilization/index.html.

Contact: Tina Hilding, Washington State University, 509-335-5095
Sherri Richardson Dodge, PNW Research Station, USDA Forest Service, 503-808-2137
Eini Lowell, research scientist , USDA Forest Service, 503-808-2072, [email protected]
Vikram Yadama, associate research professor, Washington State University, 509-335-6261, [email protected].




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