B i e n n i a l R e p o r t 1 9 9 6 - 1 9 9 8 Forest Research Laboratory BIENNIAL REPORT TABLE OF CONTENTS Administration From the Director The FRL -- Working Collaboratively To Solve Problems PROJECT SUMMARIES: 1. A History of Collaboration - HJ Andrews Experimental Forest 2. Projecting Future Markets - Timber Assessment Market Model (TAMM) Project 3. Extending the Life of Common Products - Wood Pole Research Cooperative 4. Growing Their Investment - Nursery Technology Cooperative (NTC) 5. Making Breeding More Efficient - Pacific Northwest Tree Improvement Research Cooperative (PNWTIRC) 6. Cooperating to Achieve Diverging Goals - Hardwood Silviculture Cooperative (HSC) 7. Doing Science to Meet Society's Needs - Coastal Oregon Productivity Enhancement (COPE) Program 8. Developing Methods for Interdisciplinary Research - Research Related to the Sustainable Forestry Partnership 9. Faster Growth, Less Pollution - Vegetation Management Research Cooperative 10. Using High Technology to Aid Fish Recovery - Eastern Oregon Stream Research 11. Extending into a New Niche - Tree Genetic Engineering Research Cooperative (TGERC) 12. Thinking Globally - Case Studies and "The Business of Sustainable Forestry" 13. Fighting Disease without Endangering the Environment - Swiss Needle Cast Cooperative (SNCC) 14. A Connecting Thread - Cooperative Forest Ecosystem Research (CFER) Program 15. Seeking the Causes of Change - Aspen Research 16. Preserving Wood to Preserve Forests - Supercritical Fluid Research Resources for Research Research Expenditures by Funding Source Forestry Publications Audiovisual Programs Forestry-Related Publications Short Courses and Workshops Current Advisory Committee Cover Page Administration George Brown - Director Bart Thielges - Associate Director Roger Admiral - Assistant Director Thomas McLain - Department Head, Forest Products Logan Norris - Department Head, Forest Science Steve Tesch - Department Head, Forest Engineering John Walstad - Department Head, Forest Resources Back From the Director- Solving Problems with Research -- The FRL at Work for Oregon The Forest Research Laboratory was established by the Oregon State Legislature in 1941 to solve problems. The charge then was to obtain the highest utilization of the resource, meaning the timber resources of the state. One of the earliest projects was to provide the technology for reforesting the Tillamook Burn. This long-standing tradition of research focusing on solving Oregon's problems continues today. The nature of the research has changed significantly as the problems have grown in complexity. The focus has shifted from the productivity of a single resource (timber) to understanding the relationships among the many resources of Oregon's forests that enrich the lives of Oregonians, and from making small sawmills more efficient to helping a complex primary and secondary manufacturing industry remain competitive in a global market. New technologies and advances in other disciplines have also changed what we research at the Forest Research Laboratory and how we do that research. But the basic commitments to solving problems and serving Oregon have not changed in the past half-century. We believe that Oregon's investment in problem-solving forestry research has paid off handsomely in the development of new knowledge that guides the managers of Oregon's forests and forest products industries, assists policy makers, and informs Oregonians about our forest resources and our choices for the forests of Oregon's future. This Biennial Report describes some of these payoffs and demonstrates how the Forest Research Laboratory's problem-solving approach to research works for Oregon. We hope that you will enjoy reading the research summaries in this Report. We also hope that you will contact the FRL for any further information that you might need on these studies or on any of the hundreds of other projects currently conducted by the scientific staff. Results of most FRL research projects are documented in the publications listed at the back of this Report. Many of those publications are available from the FRL on request, as noted for each entry in the list. Back THE FRL -- WORKING COLLABORATIVELY TO SOLVE PROBLEMS In past FRL Biennial Reports we have mentioned the increase in issue- driven research by FRL scientists, as well as the challenges to funding of research that the FRL has faced during the past 10 years. Bath of these situations have contributed to an ever-increasing need to find new ways to conduct our research that will 1) make the final research products more valuable to Oregon's resources, industries, and citizens, and 2) maximize the return on each dollar spent and, where possible, increase the total funds available for FRL research. One of the ways in which the FRL has addressed these situations is by increasing the amount of collaborative research that we do. Working with others helps to identify problems and issues that are significant for the state and the region, and it also helps to increase the effectiveness of the money spent and, in some cases, to make more funds available for focusing on these important concerns. All in all, true research collaboration generally leads to work that is more efficient, solutions that are more effective, and a shared feel-ing of “ownership” of the results that may extend beyond the FRL and the university to those who will use the results and gain from them. Collaborative research comes in many Forms. Probably its simplest form is when two or more scientists decide to pool their talents and resources to address an issue or problem they consider to be impor-tant. A more formal collaboration might develop when an agency or industry actively seeks partners to expand its capability to effec-tively research a specific area that is critical to their operation(s). And perhaps the most focused and structured research collaborations are those that result from the activities of a consortium or cooperative in which the membership jointly identifies and prioritizes researchable issues and, by pooling resources and ideas, commis-sions and finances studies to resolve those issues. From the hundreds of ongoing FRL projects, we have selected 16 to illustrate various types of collaborative research. These 16 represent current work in each of the five general areas of FRL research concentration: forest regeneration; forest ecology, culture, and pro- ductivity; integrated protection of forests and watersheds; evaluation of forest uses, practices, and policies; and wood processing and product performance. Another basis for selecting these projects is that they illustrate the FRL’s philosophy of balancing basic and applied research. They also emphasize the geographic scope of the FRL’s efforts; these projects address statewide, regional, and global challenges and opportunities. Finally, these 16 projects represent both work that has been con-ducted for decades and work that was initiated only recently; studies that are narrowly focused and studies that are very broad in scope; research that is restricted to one discipline and research that in-volves people from other OSU units as well as outside agencies and institutions; work that is conducted primarily in the field and work that is conducted entirely in an OSU laboratory; and research with limited scope of time and space and research that relates to a complete life cycle (from selection and breeding to products). Together, these 16 project summaries illustrate the wide variety of issues and problems addressed by FRL research, and highlight the broad array of scientific talent, sophisticated equipment and facili-ties, and other resources that are required to solve the many com-plex problems confronting Oregon's forest resources and industries. Back A History of Collaboration Like the forest itself, work on the HJ Andrews Experimental Forest keeps growing and evolving. Until 1950, when timber cutting began, wildfire was the main source of disturbance. Research was done by just a few USDA Forest Service scientists in the 1950s and 1960s. Initially they focused on road engineering, logging methods for old-growth, and rapid forest regeneration. Then in the 1960s research focused on effects of logging on water yield, sediment loads, and nutrient losses from small watersheds. The International Biological Program began at the Andrews Forest in 1970, and university researchers started to work there. In 1976 the Andrews Forest was designated a Biosphere Reserve as part of the UN's Man and the Biosphere Program; in 1980 it became a charter member in the National Science Foundation's (NSF's) Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Program, which currently includes 20 sites around the United States and two in Antarctica. Since 1980 the Andrews Forest has also been one of more than 230 sites measuring the chemistry of precipitation (especially for acid rain) for the National Atmospheric Deposition Program; the forest enjoys the purest precipitation of any site in the network. For the past 30 years, researchers at the Andrews Forest have been driven by a fundamental curiosity about how forests and streams work. In the 1970s, the focus was how forest and stream ecosystems function (nutrient cycling, energy flow, community organization); in the 1980s, work in those areas continued, but other projects began to consider ecosystem management. For the 1990s, the focus has been landscape- scale studies and testing ecosystem management methods. Many past research projects established permanent study areas (watersheds,