E-mail: smilauskas@fs.fed.us
E-mail: dwanner@fs.fed.us

Wood Education and Resource Center Awards Four
Grants in West Virginia to Improve Forest Health

Princeton, WVa— On August 3, 2005 the Wood Education and Resource Center (WERC) awarded 41 grants totaling nearly $3 million to help sustain hardwood forest products industries by encouraging the use of a wider variety of forest resources.

Four grants worth a total of $182,565 were awarded in West Virginia. One grant was awarded to the Appalachian Hardwood Center at West Virginia University to complete a software program that will allow sawmills to better evaluate and predict the quality of lumber manufactured from logs. This type of technology will help maintain the economic competitiveness of the hardwood sawmill industry in the Eastern United States.

"These grants will help to maintain and improve the health of our hardwood forests," said WERC Director Steve Milauskas. "Additionally, by making it more economical to harvest lower-value trees, we take a step toward wiser stewardship of our forests."

“We will use the grant we received to develop a software package that allow sawmills to predict lumber yields from their logs. By using this database, participating companies will have more confidence in the prices they pay for their raw materials – logs”, said Appalachian Hardwood Center Assistant Director Shawn Grushecky.

Another facet of this project is the collection of production and yield data from small diameter, low-quality logs. Many underutilized trees are not harvested because of the perception that companies lose money converting them into lumber. Some companies that have started tracking these lower quality logs through their sawmills are finding that their margins on these logs are sometimes higher than on the logs they typically saw. Sharing this information with primary producers in the region could help increase the utilization of poorer quality trees, ultimately improving the health of eastern hardwood forests.

Grant selections were based on a number of factors, including consideration of whether the proposed projects could:

• Maintain the economic competitiveness of the hardwood industries;
• Bring information and technology to existing and emerging businesses involved in the development and manufacturing of wood products;
• Bring information and technology about marketing and business-related skills to existing and emerging businesses;
• Encourage the adoption of new technology to improve competitiveness and profitability;
• Provide support and key information to entrepreneurs and start-up businesses; and
• Address global issues, such as assisting communities and industries facing threats from invasive species, such as the emerald ash borer.

The Wood Education and Resource Center, located in Princeton, WVa is administered by the USDA Forest Service agency's State and Private Forestry Northeastern Area Office. The center's mission is to work with the forest products industry toward sustainable forest products production for the eastern hardwood forest region. It provides state-of-the-art training, technology transfer, networking opportunities, applied research, and information. For more information, visit www.na.fs.fed.us/ea/werc/werc.shtm.