China’s phenomenal growth rate and its rapidly rising investments in forestry and forest products have substantial global implications for North America and other major global players in the forest products arena. This conference brought together forest products manufacturers and suppliers, and consultants, investors, economic development personnel, policy makers, educators, and researchers to discuss the latest information on China’s role in global forest products trade. This proceedings provides full papers or abstracts submitted by the speakers.

The forest industry is an essential global industry – yet it is an engima. Some believe the Paul Bunyan heritage still lives: a heritage of big men, huge mills, and ancient trees. Others are not so sure: they know trees are the mainstay raw material for lumber, papers, and other products, but they don’t know if the forest reemerges after harvest, and if it does will the land ever return to its preharvest condition. Somehow the industry has not escaped its cut-and-move-on reputation of the 19th century. The consumer and the industry have somehow each failed to recognize the change in each other. This book is a progress report to the industry participant, the consumer, the investor, and others who depend in some way on the forest and its products. Hands-on business activities, interviews, observations, and detailed research in the United States and 20 other countries covering five continents over the decades have provided material for the text. The 19 chapters are divided into five sections: an overview; the raw material base: globalization and re-engineering; the mills: adapting to changes; marketing and sales: meeting global demand; and moving ahead to the 21st century.

Selective logging of a number of western species (e.g., ponderosa pine) and effective fire suppression methods have had a major impact on the health and composition of millions of acres of forests in the western United States. Many forest stands in the west are densely stocked, and the implementation of ecological restoration treatments in these stands will result in significant volumes of small diameter (20 to 38 cm dbh) being available for processing. The papers in this 98-page proceedings were given at the 1999 Forest Products Society Annual Meeting in Boise, Idaho. The papers were selected for their focus on the management, characteristics, and quality of small-diameter softwood timber, and the challenges and opportunities involved in the processing and use of this timber in value-added products.

Engineered wood components represent one of the fastest growing segments of the forest products industry. Most engineered components are manufactured from softwoods such as Douglas-fir, the southern pines, or spruce-pine-fir. During the past decade, however, a significant amount of research has been devoted to the utilization of lower grade hardwoods in engineered materials and components. This 144-page book contains a compilation of those research results. Compiled by Robert J. Ross, Project Leader at the USDA Forest Products Lab (FPL), and John R. Erickson (retired FPL Director), Undervalued Hardwoods for Engineered Materials and Components is designed to serve as a primary reference on the use of lower grade hardwoods in engineered components. Part One focuses on basic information about the resource: availability, mechanical properties, log grading techniques, and appropriate drying methods. Part Two summarizes studies that examine the use of this resource in trusses, laminated veneer lumber, I-joists, glulam timber, and bridges.

The first edition of A Guide to Useful Woods of the World contained information on 201 species of wood that had originally appeared in the monthly issues of the International Wood Collectors Society Journal World of Wood. This all new 640-page edition introduces 78 additional species and includes a number of invaluable features not found in the original edition. Each species is described in a two-page Wood Data Sheet that is presented in standard international format and contains information on the scientific name, family, other names, distribution, the tree, the timber, seasoning, durability, workability, uses, and supplies. Specific gravity is included for all species, and shrinkage rates are included where available. In addition, each Wood Data Sheet includes a line drawing of a key botanical feature, a photomicrograph of the end grain of the wood, and a color photograph of a sample of the wood. Also included are a common name index, family name index, and scientific name index. The three appendices include a discussion of biology and taxonomy for woodworkers, insights on wood toxicity, and a list of selected references.

In Forever Green, Leavell steers a well-reasoned course for the future of America’s forests by pointing out that wood is one of our most critical resources, one that must be wisely used and conscientiously renewed. Leavell’s message is frank but encouraging. Thanks to pressure applied by environmental and conservation groups, sound forest management practices by timber-owning companies and individuals demonstrating good stewardship practices, responsible government policies, and an ever-rising social consciousness on behalf of all our natural resources, we are making progress in forest management. The American forest does have hope.

Delivering a powerful message about forests that runs contrary to much of the environmental movement’s current thinking, this personal essay, in words and photographs gives us new eyes with which to see the land and explore the beauty, diodiversity, and spirit of forests growing back after logging. With a logical argument based on facts and science, Dr. Patrick Moore demonstrates that rather than reducing our consumption of wood, we should be planting more trees and using more renewable wood in order to reduce our reliance on non-renewable fuels and materials. Green Spirit provides new insight into how forests work and how they can play a powerful role in solving many of our current environmental problems.

Managers of land and forest face a bewildering array of expectations from public and private sectors on how natural resources should be managed. Increasingly, public policy initiatives are coming to the fore that are aimed at stimulating management for “conservation of biodiversity” across all major types of land ownership (private, state or province, tribal, and federal). This 1997 conference presented technologies and management strategies of interest to a broad sector of softwood timber managers and users on a worldwide basis. Topic sections in this 192-page proceedings include:         - evolving land management objectives in relation to ownership patterns
        - landscape and stand management approaches
        - impacts of new approaches to forest management on harvesting operations
        - potential for wood products from timber produced under new forest management regimes
        - dealing with economic, social, and institutional constraints

This work is the result of 13 years (1982–1995) of research and study by Peter Koch. This five-part text in three volumes describes the several subspecies of lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta Loud.) that grow in North America.

        - Part I of the work describes the resource and the species origin, physiology and silvical aspects; a long chapter concluding this first part is concerned with agents that attack lodgepole pine.
        - Part II is concerned with water, forage for livestock, wildlife, and recreation in lodgepole pine forests.
        - Part III characterizes tree parts including foliage, stems, stumps, and roots.
        - Part IV describes the processes by which lodgepole pine is converted to products
        - Part V discusses the major products resulting from such conversion.

Each of the 26 chapters contains extensive reference to the lodgepole pine literature. With over 200 photos and 400 illustrations, this definitive work provides an invaluable reference source. A comprehensive index is also included.

When growing amounts of wood and paper materials generated from industry and urban wastes, construction site debris, building demolition wastes, used pallets, paper wastes, and many other sources has generated interest in finding ways to economically recycle these materials into products for building and construction. Subjects in this proceedings from the 1997 conference include:

        - factors driving solid wood and wood fiber recycling;
        - wood waste-based materials in building applications;
        - the character and availability of wood and paper waste resource;
        - new and developing recycling methods and technologies;
        - products and materials developed using recycled wood and wood fiber;
        - regulatory and environmental issues impacting the use of recycled mateials
        - future issues in recycled material usage.

The North American forest products industry is in the midst of a dynamic period of change. Factors such as the changing resource quality and availability, price volatility, public resource legislation, federal court decisions, changing technologies and new product development, and emerging global markets have contributed to the dynamic nature of this change. The result of these and other factors has been a dramatic change in the nature of competition within the forest products industry. This is true not only in the North American market but also in other major foreign markets. Topics discussed in this proceedings, edited by Dr. Ivan Eastin and Dr. Eric Hansen, include:

        - structural changes within the global forestry sector
        - structural changes affecting the forest products industry
        - structural changes in the dynamics of timber supply
        - strategic responses to structural change within the forest products industry

These papers were presented during the Industry Focus Session of the 1995 Annual Meeting of the Forest Products Society.

This proceedings examines the process of the globalization of wood fiber and wood fiber products. Global changes in the supplies of wood and wood fiber and the continued increase in demand for wood-based products act as the engine of change driving the process of material substitution. The contents are designed to provide a more complete understanding of the process and the impact on individual businesses. These papers were presented at a 1993 conference sponsored by the Forest Products Society and the Oregon Forest Resources Institute in Portland, Oregon. General topics include:

        - global fiber supply and demand – the engine of change
        - material substitution – response to changing fiber supply
        - technology and processes – the means for change
        - new resources and products – best utilization of existing fiber
        - the globalization of markets and standards.

Edited by Kenneth Skog, these papers indicate how U.S. demands for forest products will likely interact with U.S. timber and product suppliers and product importers to affect U.S. forest and public benefits of forest products over the next 50 years. The results re from the 5th RPA Timber Assessment of the USDA Forest Service and additional special studies that evaluate forest management issues in the U.S. West. The purpose of this Timber Assessment is to: analyze and project trends and determinants of trends in demands and supplies of timber; estimate prospective changes in the land and timber resource base examine the implications of these trends in use and the resource base, and survey the opportunities to manage and use the first recourse base to meet private and sector goals. These papers were originally presented at the 2001 forest Products Society annual meeting and used data from the 2001 Draft RPA Timber Assessment. After that meeting the Assessment projections were revised and the papers in this report, including the review papers, were revised to reflect the final projections for the 5th RPA Timber Assessment. The Assessment findings provide a basis for informed discussion on policies that will influence forest management and timber removal practices and determine their subsequent effect on ecosystems.