State & Private Forestry
Forest Products Laboratory
The Forest Products Conservation & Recycling Review is assembled and edited monthly by Adele Olstad and John Zerbe of the FPC&R; Technology Marketing Unit at the Forest Products Laboratory (FPL). Review contributions and correspondence may be sent to either Adele or John at the address below. For copies of FPL or North Central Forest Experiment Station publications,contact FPL Information Services at the same address.
The individual items included in the Review reflect the content and tone of the original articles. Inclusion of an item does not imply agreement nor endorsement by the U.S. Department of Agriculture of facts or opinions contained in any article. The Review does not evaluate the accuracy of the information reported. The use of trade or firm names in this issue is for reader information and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Department of Agriculture of any product or service.
USDA Forest Service
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The Trees & Utilities National Conference will be held February 6-8, 2001, at the Arbor Day Farm Lied Conference Center in Nebraska City. This conference provides a forum for utility professionals, community foresters, and concerned citizens to exchange ideas and explore ways to work together to accomplish the dual goal of growing health community forests and providing reliable, low-cost utility service. For more information, contact The National Arbor Day Foundation by phone (402-474-5655 or toll free 888-448-7337) or Fax (402-474-0820).
Conservation Trees Booklet--What happens on the land, even land we'll never see, affects the water we drink, the food we eat, and the air we breathe. Conservation Trees explains how to save energy with trees, attract songbirds and wildlife, plant the right tree in the right place, save trees during construction, plant conservation buffers for streams, and create living snow fences and field windbreaks. For a free copy, contact The National Arbor Day Foundation by phone (402-474-5655 or toll free 888-448-7337) or Fax (402-474-0820), or visit their website at www.arborday.com.
"American Forests" Celebrates 125th Anniversary--On September 10, American Forests celebrated its 125th anniversary. Here are a few interesting facts about this organization; for more information, visit their website at www.americanforests.org/.
Introducing the FPL Advanced Housing Research Center--The Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing (PATH), a National initiative, was started in late 1998. From the onset, the USDA Forest Service, through the Forest Products Laboratory (FPL) in Madison, WI, has been a full partner in the PATH program and has had the lead role in PATH's wood-frame housing research. To help meet the needs of the PATH program and bring affordable, durable housing to the Nation's rapidly expanding urban population centers, the USDA Forest Service has established the Advanced Housing Research Center at FPL.
Research at the Advanced Housing Research Center will evaluate and develop technology for both new and existing housing in which wood and/or wood-based products are used as primary or secondary building components. Emphasis will be on the improved use of traditional wood products, the use of recycled and engineered wood composite materials, energy and sound efficiency, indoor air quality, an improved living environment, and natural disaster resistance. The Center will also heavily rely on partnerships with universities, industry, special interest groups, other branches of the Forest Service, and Federal, State, and local agencies.
Recognizing the need to promote better construction methods, two leading wood products industry associations have teamed with the Housing Center and other project supporters to build a demonstration house that showcases moisture-resistant construction techniques along with proper building practices-from the foundation to the roof. This project is part of a Build a Better Home® program launched this year by APA--The Engineered Wood Association (Tacoma, WA) in response to growing concerns about building envelope performance issues, particularly those related to moisture intrusion. The Southern Forest Products Association (Kenner, LA) is also a sponsor of the demonstration house project.
The demonstration house will serve as an ongoing classroom of proper building practices throughout the construction process. One intriguing feature of the house is the use of a permanent wood foundation. This system uses lumber-framed foundation walls sheathed with plywood. All lumber and plywood are pressure treated to prevent decay from moisture and attack by termites. Also, four different exteriors--lap siding, panel siding, stucco, and brick--will be installed.
For more information on the Advanced Housing Research Center or the demonstration house, contact Jean Livingston by phone (608-231-9242), Fax (608-231-9303), or e-mail (jmlivingston@fs.fed.us).
Interested in High-Value Uses for Small-Diameter Timber? The Center for Resourceful Building Technology (CRBT) website (www.crbt.org/) has several publications available on using small-diameter timber as a building material. These include:
The Selling Forest Products Short Course, sponsored by the College of Forestry Outreach Education Office of Oregon State University, will be held November 30-December 1. The course will concentrate on the fundamental principles of salesmanship as they apply to the forest products industry. For registration materials and additional information, contact the Forestry Outreach office at 541-737-2329 or visit their website at www.cof.orst.edu/cof/extended/conferen/.
Finding and Creating New Markets is one in a series of sawmill business management articles published in The Northern Logger & Timber Processor. The author is David E. Tooch, a forest products consultant and Associate Professor of Business at the University of New Hampshire's Thompson School. Tooch states that to achieve the longest sales dollar and best order file, a company must participate in the never-ending process of marketing. Smart marketing can lead to maximum profit levels and can simultaneously reduce the pressure on the log resource by focusing on quality rather than on quantity. Tooch discusses a variety of management tools that collectively serve to accomplish these goals, including conducting market research and prospecting, organizing meetings that lead to sales, matching markets with company resources, promoting market creativity, and buying the resource effectively.
Market research and prospecting. Determining the kinds of products and services consumers want now and in the future can often be found by simply observing and measuring buying habits and statistics. This information is readily available, often for free, through directories, public agencies, professional associations, chambers of commerce and commerce agencies, surveys, and retail reports. Also, a tremendous amount of current market information is available through newspapers and magazines. Meetings that lead to sales. The location of a meeting depends on the type of customer; e.g., retailer, logger, or sawmiller. Effective meetings include knowing how to dress and act to gain the rapport, confidence, and credibility necessary for the sale. In many instances, it is not the product the customer buys, but the person and company behind it.
Matching of markets with company resources. The product needs a "home" that pays the highest obtainable price. For example, if logs are the most expensive part of the operation, costs are minimized by generating the highest quantity and quality yield of product from each 1,000 board feet of log. However, it may be necessary to add, drop, or shift the product mix to get the highest possible product value.
Market creativity. Market creativity has to do with establishing markets that do not exist rather than finding new markets. People love wood. The job of a marketer is to provide wood in every possible shape and form, such as fingerjointed products, cut-up programs, panels, landscape designs, new building architecture, specialty moldings and other shaped lumber, designer shavings for packaging, and palletized shrinkwrapped firewood. Could a slow-moving product be converted into something that would match current buying trends?
Effective buying of resource. Today's high log costs, high operating costs, and fierce worldwide competition require loggers and sawmillers to be smart marketers of logs. Logs need to be carefully cut and segregated into the mix of markets that brings the greatest return. Smart log marketing benefits the landowner, forester, logger, trucker, and sawmiller.[Source: The Northern Logger & Timber Processor, October 2000]
U.S. Sales of Wood in Japan Face Difficulties--U.S. sales of wood in Japan are encountering some adversity because of a declining share of wood in the housing market, the 1997 economic recession in Japan, and the strength of the yen and relative weakness of the Canadian dollar and the Euro.
Residential housing in Japan was dominated by wood construction well into the mid-1970s, accounting for almost two-thirds of all housing in 1976. However, sustained growth in multifamily housing and prefabricated single-family housing has contributed to the declining share of wood housing and the increase in nonwood housing. In 1999, wood housing represented just 46.6% of all housing starts in Japan.
Despite the gradual decline in wood housing, the Japanese market represents a tremendous opportunity for wood building materials from the United States. Strong Japanese demand has not only stimulated exports of U.S. primary wood products but also boosted exports of secondary wood products. While exports of secondary products to Japan have not approached the level of primary wood products, they nevertheless experienced phenomenal growth from 1989 to 1996, increasing by 245% to $388 million.
Since 1997, however, the economic recession in Japan has had a devastating impact on their housing industry. Thousands of contractors have gone out of business. Housing starts dropped from 1.66 million units in 1996 to 1.21 million units in 1999 (the outlook for 2000 is approximately 1.25 million units). Not surprisingly, this decline has had an adverse effect on U.S. exports; exports of primary wood products declined 52% and secondary wood products 44% from 1996 to 1998.
The strength of the yen and the relative weakness of the Canadian dollar and the Euro have compounded the impact of the economic recession and the decline in housing starts. These currency changes have reduced the competitiveness of U.S. wood products at a time when Japanese homebuilders are trying to increase their imports of wood building materials. As a result, European exports of softwood lumber to Japan have increased dramatically, largely at the expense of U.S. hemlock exports. Since 1989, the U.S. market share for softwood lumber has declined from 48.3% to 10.7%, while the European market share has increased from 0% to 16.4% and the Canadian market share from 50.9% to 59%.
Because of new building code regulations, most Japanese homebuilders are trying to use higher quality materials. This trend is already reflected in the dramatic increase in both the use of dimensionally stable kiln-dried lumber and the volume of dry-kiln capacity. The use of glulam posts and beams has also increased significantly and has provided a tremendous opportunity for European laminating components. Japanese homebuilders are also looking to the manufacturers and exporters of wood building materials to provide extended warranties for their products.
The new building codes have the potential to reduce the competitiveness of imported wood building materials in Japan and to restrict the ability of U.S. manufacturers and exporters to sell directly to Japanese homebuilders. There is also a strong likelihood that Japanese homebuilders (and wholesalers) will work to require that U.S. manufacturers and/or exporters of wood building materials provide 10-year product warranties.
[Source: CINTRAFOR News, Fall 2000)
Cool Reception for E-Trading--According to an article in Random Lengths, efforts by e-commerce companies to establish a foothold in wood products trading have largely come up short. It appears that most traders still prefer the telephone to the computer terminal for trading lumber and panels. Many e-commerce providers are linked to forest products companies through ownership or alliances. The most visible is a combined effort by Georgia-Pacific, Weyerhaeuser, and International Paper, but several other sites are linked to wholesale or retail firms. Observers say that these ties with the industry cast doubt on the independence or neutrality of these trading platforms. Nevertheless, a number of companies are trying to lead the industry into electronic trading.
The Random Lengths website
(www.randomlengths.com/newecommerce.html) contains a list of over 40 prospective e-commerce providers in softwood lumber products. The list focuses on companies that provide or plan to provide services to softwood manufacturers and their customers (e.g., wholesalers, distributors). The services vary widely as do the methods used to generate revenue; e.g., transaction, membership, or access fees; display advertising; or a combination of these methods. Because the number and diversity of prospective e-commerce providers can be bewildering, many traders are apparently waiting for market forces to determine which direction the industry will take.
[Source: Random Lengths, September 15, 2000]
Forest Service FY2000 Timber Sales at Record Low Pace--The 3rd quarter timber sales report for the National Forest System shows a cumulative timber sale volume of 1.24 billion board feet (BF) (717 million BF of sawtimber), the lowest in several decades. The Southern Region leads with 294 million BF, followed by the Eastern Region (205 million BF), Pacific Northwest (172 million BF), and Alaska (151 million BF). Details on the timber sale program are available at www.fs.fed.us/land/fm/s_h/2000q3sold.htm.
AF&PA; Forest Resources indicates that the catastrophic wildfires have undoubtedly played a major role in low sales, but major Administration policy initiatives, such as the proposed planning, road management, and transportation system rules and the roadless-area protection proposal, have also had an impact. For more information, contact Grant Baeder at 202-463-5177 (grant_baeder@afandpa.org) or Mary Coulombe at 202-564-2753 (mary_coulombe@afandpa.org).
[Source: The Timber Producer, October 2000]
Exports Important to Economic Characteristics of Recovered Paper Market--William P. Moore, president of the Atlanta-based paper-recycling consulting firm of Moore & Associates, holds exports to be the leading edge of the market for recovered paper. Currently, exports account for approximately 18% of all recovered paper sales in the United States, but movements in supply and demand of less than 1% can cause market price shifts of $20 to $30 per ton. The United States exports recovered paper primarily to Canada, Mexico, Korea, China, and Taiwan. For statistical purposes, Canada and Mexico are included in exports, but because both are North American countries that do not receive significant recovered paper supply from anywhere except the United States, they differ from Asian countries. The next five largest countries that import recovered paper from the United States are all in Asia.
The need for recovered paper in Asia and the Pacific Rim regions primarily comes from their lack of forests. However, Asian countries can buy paper from the United States or Europe, which creates a more volatile market for the United States. Although the United States is the world's largest exporter of recovered paper, Europe (especially Germany and Scandinavia) exports a significant amount.
The falloff in recovered paper prices this past summer, particularly for old corrugated containers (OCC), was strongly influenced by the export market. U.S. containerboard mills, the largest OCC users, had significant amounts of downtime because of market conditions for finished products. This created the atmosphere for a price correction. However, many experts feel that the poor operation of Nine Dragons, a large Chinese recycled linerboard mill, also played a major role in the OCC market correction.
With Asia's growing population and increased standard of living, the continent's pulp and paper industry is growing. Thus, Asia and the Pacific Rim regions will continue to be short of fiber and to need to import recovered paper from the United States. New York Company Recycles Solid Wood to Useful Products--Lake Front Recycling of Lackawanna, NY, processes pallets, crates, trees, stumps, brush, limbs, factory cutoffs, wood chips, mulch, and sawdust for the manufacture of medium-density fiberboard, playground cushion, and landscape mulch. The company provides 80,000 tons/year to an adjacent CanFibre medium-density fiberboard plant and 70,000 tons/year to Ligna Recycling Technologies of Buffalo for its fiberboard plant. For information, contact David Tomasselo at 716-821-9011 or
questions@lakefrontrecycling.com. Growing Use of Recycled Paper in Magazines Despite Difficulties--Municipal solid waste (MSW) contains 2.26 million tons of magazines per year, or 1% by weight. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reports that 470,000 tons of magazines (21% of total) were recycled in 1998. Recycled content in magazines, which use coated paper, is a recent phenomenon. Using recycled fiber is difficult in coated paper because this type of paper is manufactured in a very exacting process in which a thin coating is placed on the fiber base. Contaminants not removed by the deinking process can reduce the smoothness of the coated sheet and cause printing problems.
Magazines can be composted if shredded properly. However, the clay coating resists composting. The clay in magazines provides about the same amount of energy per pound (0.45 kg) as does MSW; an ovendry pound of MSW provides 4,500 to 5,000 Btu, which is lower than the Btu value for most paper products. However, burning coated paper creates more ash than does burning other types of paper. Compost May Be Answer to Wood and Poultry Waste--A group of researchers at Mississippi State University's Forest and Wildlife Research Center is evaluating composting woodwaste and poultry manure as a solution to serious disposal problems for the State's poultry and forestry industries. Each year, Mississippi's poultry industry produces 600,000 tons of litter and its forest products industry produces a large quantity of woodwaste during manufacturing cycles. The amount of woodwaste has become an economic burden due to increased landfill costs, transportation costs, environmental concerns, and governmental regulations.
Composting is the biological decomposition and stabilization of organic materials. These conditions produce a final product that is stable, free of pathogens and plant seeds, and can be applied to soil to improve its characteristics. In the study, researchers composted primarily woodwaste from a furniture manufacturer, small amounts of fabric scraps, and other compounds that are difficult to separate from furniture scraps. They mixed local poultry manure with the woodwaste. Results indicated that composting could be an economical, simple, safe, and viable option for disposal of woodwaste. Because of the small particle size, these types of compost are well suited as a soil additive in areas with low organic matter. For more information, contact Dr. Hamid Borazjani at 662-325-3106. Watershed Restoration Project Website--The Forest Service has posted a website
(www.fs.fed.us/largewatershedprojects/businessplans/) for large-scale watershed restoration projects. The site currently includes brief project summaries and detailed project business plans; in the future, it will include links to other sites and a team room for interactive discussions. In fiscal year 2000, the Forest Service selected 12 landscape-scale (250,000 to 500,000 acres (101,175 to 202,350 ha)) watershed restoration projects for supplemental funding. Selection criteria were a precedent-setting approach to long-term improvement of watershed conditions, an important location and purpose, collaborative relationships, and feasibility. The projects range from research assessments in New York City's municipal watersheds and the Chesapeake Bay to river restoration efforts on the Chattooga, Conasauga, Rio Penasco, Upper Sevier, Upper South Platte, Warner Mountain/Hackamore, and White Rivers. Other projects are the Pacific Coastal Watersheds, the Blue Mountains of Eastern Oregon, the Lower Mississippi Valley, the Kootenai River in Montana, and the St. Joe and Lost Rivers in Idaho. For more information, contact Karen Solari at 202-205-0879 or ksolari@fs.fed.us. Trees and Wood Reduce Energy Consumption in U.N. Building--The United Nations Environment Program Environmental Technology Center in Shiga, Japan, has been designed to use natural energy to reduce its primary energy demand for heating, cooling, and hot water by 20%. Passive solar design features, active solar heating technology, and the use of natural daylight and ventilation have been combined with a number of energy-saving features. The Center includes guest accommodations and an office building. The buildings are insulated by double-glazed sashes and 50-mm- (2-in.-) thick wood-fiber cement boards; the boards were manufactured from timber thinnings and serve as frame panels in place of concrete. Thermal loads in the guesthouse are minimized through the use of deep eaves and deciduous trees, which restrict summer sunlight but allow the winter sun to penetrate deep into the rooms. The National Historic Covered Bridge Preservation Program (NHCBP), established by the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century, provides funding to assist States to preserve, rehabilitate, or restore historic covered bridges, and funding for research and technology transfer. (For this program, "historic covered bridge" means a covered bridge that is listed or eligible for listing on the National Register for Historic Places.) A minimum of $7 million is dedicated to preservation and a maximum of $1 million to research. Preservation grants are awarded to States that demonstrate a need for assistance in carrying out one or more of the following projects:
Projects must provide for replacement of wooden components with wooden components unless the use of wood
is impractical for safety reasons. Projects (Federal, State, or locally funded) may be on any public roadway. Funding goals include evaluating any innovative portion of restoration work not to exceed 2 years and preparing a case study report.
Questions about this program should be addressed to Sheila Rimal Duwadi, Office of Bridge Technology, 202-366-4619, or visit
www.fhwa.dot.gov/bridge/index.htm.
(Editor's Note: Deadline for fiscal year 2000 applications closed on August 1, 2000.) AEWC Center Opens in Maine--The University of Maine's new 30,000-ft² (2,787-m²) Advanced Engineered Wood Composites (AEWC) Center opened on June 1. The Center conducts research leading to commercial development of the next generation of cost-effective, high-performance, wood-nonwood composite construction materials. The facility was designed as a state-of-the-art "one-stop shop" for integrated composite materials and structural component development. The Center houses many laboratories plus an area for computer modeling and visual design of new materials and structural components. Chemicals From Western Larch--Larex, Inc., a company based in St. Paul, MN, is contemplating large-scale production of chemicals from western larch. Their goal is to produce 8 million lb (3.6 million kg) of arabinogalactin (AG) each year. Larch has served as a source of carnauba wax for automobile polish and other applications. Arabinogalactin is said to be a constituent of a skin-firming lotion, some medicinals such as St. John's wort, and ink products. According to Richard Faulkner, vice president of manufacturing, a number of studies have shown that AG enhances the immune system.
Larex extracts AG from larch butt logs at its manufacturing facility in northeastern Minnesota. Since the chemicals are a relatively minor component of the wood, much of the wood is left after the extraction process. Larex sells the leftover wood to a lumber producer in Duluth, which uses it to make hardboard. Larex also elicited the cooperation of the local power company, who provided the land for locating the plant. The company also makes use of the power company's sidetrack when unloading shipments of trees sent by train from Montana. More information can be found at the Larex website at
www.larex.com/. Familiar With the USDA National Agroforestry Center? NAC is a partnership of the USDA Forest Service, Research and Development (Rocky Mountain Research Station) and State & Private Forestry, and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. The Center's purpose is to accelerate the development and application of agroforestry technologies to attain more economically, environmentally, and socially sustainable land-use systems. The Center interacts with a national network of partners and cooperators to conduct research, develop technologies and tools, establish demonstrations, and provide information to natural resource professionals.
The Center publishes a quarterly newsletter called Inside Agroforestry. The Summer 2000 issue deals primarily with special forest products (SPFs), often called nontimber forest products, and forest farming. One article presents possibilities for broadening consumer demand for a variety of SFPs, listing examples of medicinals and herbs, decorative florals, and forest crops. Sources of information are provided for those interested in farming the forest. Another article discusses developing markets, and another deals with specialty forest product opportunities. Issues of Inside Agroforestry are posted on the NAC website at
www.unl.edu/nac. For a hard copy, contact Nancy Hammond at
nhammond@fs.fed.us or send a Fax to 402-437-5712.
The Small-Diameter Round Timber Demonstration Structure Techline describes the construction of a covered picnic shelter at the Forest Products Laboratory (FPL) in Madison, WI, using ponderosa pine from the Shasta-Trinity National Forest near Hayfork, CA. The average diameter of the round timbers is approximately 8 in. (20 cm), but the structure can be designed to use material as small as 4 in. (10 cm) in diameter. The structure showcases various engineering approaches that could be used in a roundwood structure, such as different connection and roof systems. The structure is for demonstration; no building in actual use would incorporate all the engineering design elements being evaluated. A limited number of copies of this Techline are available from FPL's Information Services: Tel: 608-231-9200, Fax: 608-231-9592, or e-mail:
mailroom_forest_products_laboratory@fs.fed.us.
For more information on small-diameter and underutilized species, contact Sue LeVan-Green, Program Manager, Technology Marketing Unit, by phone (608-231-9518), Fax (608-231-9592), or e-mail (slevan@fs.fed.us).
Drying Hardwood Lumber (FPL-GTR-118) has just been released. This publication is an update of a previous Forest Service publication, Drying Eastern Hardwood Lumber by John M. McMillen and Eugene M. Wengert. It focuses on common methods for drying lumber of different thickness, with minimal drying defects, for high-quality applications. Also included are predrying treatments that, when part of an overall quality-oriented drying system, reduce defects and improve drying quality, especially of oak lumber. Special attention is given to drying white wood, such as hard maple and ash, without sticker shadow or other discoloration. Several special drying methods are described, such as solar drying, as well as proper techniques for storing dried lumber. Suggestions are provided for ways to economize on drying costs by reducing drying time and energy demands when feasible. Each chapter is accompanied by a list of references.
Drying Hardwood Lumber is available in soft cover from the Wood Education and Resource Center, 301 Hardwood Lane, Princeton, WV 24710. Tel: 304-487-1510 (toll free: 888-297-3287); Fax: 304-487-6661; e-mail: education@werc-hdw.com.
[Do not request copies from FPL, as they do not have a supply for distribution.]
A Workshop on How to Dry Lumber for Quality and Profit, sponsored by the College of Forestry Outreach Education Office of Oregon State University, will be held December 4-7. The course will provide a basic understanding of wood-its properties and how it dries. Topics include how steam-heated and dehumidification kilns are made, operated, and maintained and how to create and modify kiln schedules for different species. Drying to meet the European quality standards as well as drying imported radiata will also be discussed. For registration materials and additional information, contact the Forestry Outreach office at 541-737-2329 or visit their website at
www.cof.orst.edu/cof/extended/conferen/.
Contents
Forest Products Laboratory |
Forest Service |
USDA
Please send any questions or comments to
aolstad@fs.fed.us.
Contact-Name: Adele Olstad
Contact-Phone: 608/231-9329
Document-Date: 2001 January 3
Abstract: October 2000 Issue of FPC&R; Review
Waste Wood and Paper Recycling
[Source: Resource Recovery Report, August 2000]
[Source: Waste Age, October 2000]
[Source: Forest Products Journal 50(7/8): 6, 2000]
Environmental Issues and Protection
[Source: Cooperative Forestry Weekly Information Summary, October 23, 2000]
[Source: Caddet Renewable Energy Technical Brochure No. 131]
Wood in Transportation & Engineered Wood Products
Research projects include, but are not limited to, the following:
To preserve, rehabilitate, or restore a historic covered bridge
To preserve a historic covered bridge, which includes such projects as
installing a fire protection system,
installing a system to prevent vandalism and arson, and
relocating a bridge to a preservation site
Collecting and disseminating information concerning historic covered bridges
Developing educational programs related to the history and construction techniques of historic covered bridges
Conducting basic research to find better ways of protecting historic covered bridges from rot, fire, natural disasters, or weight-related damages
[Source: Crossings, Summer 2000]
[Source: Crossties, September/October 2000]
Special Forest Products
[Source: Barry Wynsma, Idaho Panhandle National Forests, USDA Forest Service]
Improved Utilization of Solid Wood