Forest
Restoration and Community Economic
Revitalization
through use of Small-Diameter and Under-Utilized Species
Changes in forest policies have impacted
rural communities that depend on timber and have hindered forest
restoration capacity. To
offset such impacts, many forest managers and rural community leaders
are supporting "community-based forest stewardship," a concept that
involves the local community in forest restoration activities. However,
from the rural community perspective, these restoration activities
must generate a "living wage" for residents. To create opportunities
for making a living wage, most rural communities propose developing
value-added uses for the by-products of forest restoration.
The concept of community-based forest
stewardship is prevalent in both the East and the West. In the
East, forest restoration activities
are primarily driven by issues of biodiversity, fragmentation, and
watershed protection. In the West, forest restoration activities
are primarily driven by fuel reduction in forests, particularly the
wildland-urban interface, economic revitalization of forest-dependent
communities, and watershed protection.
Interior
West
In the Interior West, 39 million acres of
ponderosa pine-type forest have lost ecological integrity because
of major changes in vegetative structure and composition. A reduction
in the occurrence of low-intensity fires that prevented shade-tolerant
species and maintained the open, park-like stands of ponderosa
pine has created forests that are characterized by significantly
overstocked stands of small-diameter material that create substantial
fire hazards. The dense understory creates a ladder fuel that can
lead to high-intensity crown fires, which can cause major damage
to the ecosystem and watershed. Most of these stands are listed
in the most hazardous category (class 3), requiring mechanical
thinning followed by prescribed fire. Restoration costs range from
$150 to $500/acre. Economical and value-added uses for these removals
can help offset forest management costs, provide economic opportunities
for many rural, forest-dependent communities, and prevent catastrophic
wildfires.
The Forest Products Laboratory (FPL)
has the capability to help communities develop value-added uses
for the by-products of forest restoration. Following are some
examples of the type of research and devel-pment that FPL has
initiated with several rural communities.
Hayfork, California, is in the Hayfork
Adaptive Management Area in Trinity County, California. It is
a rural, historically timber-based community with an 18% unemployment
rate. More than 80% of the land base is in public ownership.
The community is conducting restoration activities on the forest,
predominantly stands of small-diameter Douglas-fir. The community's
goal is to develop value-added forest products from these thinnings
for such uses as flooring, furniture, and poles and posts. FPL
research is examining the grades and characteristics of the lumber,
identifying possible product opportunities, developing kiln drying
procedures that reduce twisting, developing appropriately scaled
technologies that reduce manufacturing costs, and exploring the
opportunities for small-scale energy combustion to meet manufacturing
energy requirements.
Flagstaff, Arizona, has a critical
urban-wildland interface issue. The Grand Canyon Forest Foundation
in Flagstaff is a grass roots restoration effort to reduce the
fire risk in the urban-wildland interface around Flagstaff. The
overall goal of the project is to develop and demonstrate forest
management approaches that improve and restore health in the
ponderosa pine forest ecosystem, particularly with developing
value-added business opportunities using small-diameter ponderosa
pine. FPL research is examining the grades, characteristics,
and possible product opportunities, developing kiln drying schedules
for ponderosa pine, developing structural uses for roundwood,
and exploring the opportunities for small-scale energy combustion
to meet some of the local energy requirements.
Vallecitos, New Mexico, lies in the
eastern Carson National Forest about 60 miles north of Santa
Fe. Vallecitos is one of a cluster of five villages that make
up the Vallecitos Sustained Yield Unit, created by Congress in
the 1940s in response to the poverty resulting from industrial
logging in forest-dependent communities in the early part of
the century. FPL research is helping Vallecitos develop new opportunities
for using small-diameter ponderosa pine. We have initiated studies
on air drying of roundwood, bending properties of small-diameter
roundwood, and potential structural uses for small-diameter roundwood.
Top of Page Eastern
Forests
Forest health and productivity are the
most important issues in eastern forests. Air pollution, invasive
species, lack of biodiversity, undesirable age class distributions,
and multiple stressors, such as drought and defoliators, are
all impacting our eastern forests. Many different management
strategies can be used to address these issues.
One such strategy is thinning and removing
undesirable species to broaden class and species distributions.
However, insufficient markets for low-quality hardwoods, particularly
red maple, hamper such management strategies. Red maple is an
abundant and underused species in the northeastern forests of
the United States, and management of red maple would promote
the biodiversity and restoration of these forests.
FPL has the capability to find higher
value uses for these underutilized species. Structural materials
for construction represent a major potential market. Over the
past several years, FPL has been working with universities and
forest products companies to conduct the studies necessary to
expand the use of hardwoods as construction material. Some
potential structural uses of hardwoods include bridges, trusses,
I-joists, glued-laminated timbers, and laminated veneer lumber.
Technologies developed at the FPL that
will help move red maple and other underutilized hardwood species
into the construction material market include (1) nondestructive
evaluation technologies for assigning properties, (2) validation
of assigned properties with full-size testing, (3) economical
lumber drying regimes for these species, (4) testing and validation
of fastener systems, and (5) testing of full-size structural
components.
Top of Page Research
and Development
FPL can provide the technical expertise needed
for community-based forest stewardship to be successful. Rural
communities need technical assistance to market, process, and identify
value-added opportunities from the by-products of ecosystem management.
FPL research can accelerate the transition of forest-based communities
to ecosystem management and watershed restoration activities that
produce a "living wage" for forest-dependent rural communities.
This FPL initiative focuses on research
to
characterize the material for various
grades of lumber and develop appropriate drying procedures,
develop value-added uses of round
logs in applications such as roof trusses, timber bridges,
and other structural applications,
determine the suitability of small-diameter
conifers and low-value hardwoods for value-added products such
as trusses, laminated veneer lumber, and glued-laminated timbers,
develop value-added opportunities
to produce composite products from small-diameter and underutilized
species that are not suitable for higher value, solid wood
use,
develop alternative uses for small-diameter
material, such as small-scale combustion or composting, and
integrate product opportunities
to maximize the economic opportunity for using small-diameter
material.
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