Feature

It is hard to imagine a world without forests. Forests providea wide range of benefits at the local, national, and global levels.Some of these benefits depend on leaving the forest alone orsubjecting it to only minimal interference. Other benefits canonly be realized by harvesting the forest for wood and otherproducts. The shrinking land base and growing humanpopulation have heightened the challenge for forestry andforest products utilization to produce the needed types andquantity of trees.

The concept of sustainability is central to sound forestmanagement and the subject of much current debate.Sustainability in all of its facets “ecological, economic, andsocial” will continue to become increasingly important for stew-ardship of the world’s forests. Forests provide many and diversebenefits to people, including clean air and water, productivesoils, biological diversity, goods and services, employmentopportunities, community benefits, recreation, and exposure tonature. Forests also provide intangible qualities such as beauty,inspiration, and wonder.

ByJohn A.

Youngquistand Thomas E.

Hamilton

1 8 N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 1 9 9 9

SU S T A I N I N G , SU P P O R T I N G , A N D C O N T R I B U T I N G ME M B E R S

S U S T A I N I N G

APA - The Engineered Wood Assoc.,Tacoma, WA

Boise-Cascade Corp.,Boise, ID

Hamilton Roddis Foundation,Milwaukee, WI

Hickson Corp., Conley, GA

Louisiana-Pacific,Portland, OR

Natural Resources Research Institute,Duluth, MN

Trus Joist MacMillan,Boise, ID

Weyerhaeuser Co.,Tacoma, WA

S U P P O R T I N G

Andersen Corp.,Bayport, MN

Ashland Chemical Co.,Columbus, OH

Bayer Corp.,Pittsburgh, PA

Borden Adhesives,Bellevue, WA

Borden Pkg. & Industrial Products,West Hill, ON, Canada

California Saw & Knife Works,San Francisco, CA

Coe Manufacturing Co.,Painesville, OH

Component Technology,Somerville, NJ

Composite Panel Assoc.,Gaithersburg, MD

Franklin International,Columbus, OH

H.B. Fuller Co.,St. Paul, MN

ICI Polyurethanes,Paulsboro, NJ

JOFCO, Inc., Jasper, IN

Kimball International, Inc.,Jasper, IN

Masonite Corp.,West Chicago, IL

Memphis Hardwood Flooring Co.,Memphis, TN

Mereen Johnson Machine Co.,Minneapolis, MN

Mid-South Engineering Co.,Hot Springs National Park, AR

National Starch & Chemical Corp.,Bridgewater, NJ

Neste Resins Canada,Mississauga, ON, Canada

Nicholson Manufacturing Co.,Seattle, WA

PFS/TECO Corp.,Madison, WI

Rader Companies, Inc.,

Portland, OR

The Robertson Corp.,Brownstown, IN

Southern Pine Inspection Bureau,Pensacola, FL

Tembec Chemical Div.,Cornwall, ON, Canada

Timber Products Inspection,Conyers, GA

Union Camp Corp., Savannah, GA

Western Wood Products Assoc.,Portland, OR

C O N T R I B U T I N G

California Redwood Assoc.,Novato, CA

Canadian Plywood Assoc.,North Vancouver, BC, Canada

Cedarhurst Forest Products,Malton, ON, Canada

Clarke’s Sheet Metal, Inc.,Eugene, OR

Colonial Craft, St. Paul, MN

Davis Standard, Pawcatuck, CT

DCMO - Seattle, Portland, OR

Delmhorst Instrument Co.,Towaco, NJ

Dieffenbacher, Inc.,Atlanta, GA

Distran Wood Products, Inc.,Alexandria, LA

Dyno Overlays, Inc.,Hayward, WI

Energy Products of Idaho,

Coeur D’Alene, ID

Frank Lumber Co., Inc.,Mill City, OR

Georgia Pacific Flakeboard,Bancroft, ON, Canada

Gross & Janes Co., Fenton, MO

HCMA Consulting Group, Inc.,Portland, OR

Harwood Products,Branscomb, CA

Hausmann & Associates,Madison, WI

Haworth, Inc., Holland, MI

Iglewski Family Foundation,Niles, IL

INCA Presswood Pallets Ltd.,Dover, OH

Jager Industries, Inc.,Calgary, AB, Canada

Japan Wood Products Info. Ctr.,Seattle, WA

Jeld-Wen, Inc., Klamath Falls, OR

Kop-Coat, Inc., Pittsburgh, PA

Louisiana-Pacific Corp.,Wilmington, NC

Lucidyne Technologies, Inc.,Corvallis, OR

Mater Engineering Ltd.,Corvallis, OR

M-E-C Co., Neodesha, KS

Menasha Corp., North Bend, OR

National Casein Co., Chicago, IL

NGM International,Fredericton, NB, Canada

Norjohn LTD,Burlington, ON, Canada

Nucraft Furniture Co.,Comstock Park, MI

Paladin Ind., Inc.Grand Rapids, MI

Qualitim, Madison, WI

Saver Systems, Richmond, IN

Sherwin-Williams Co., Cleveland, OH

Siempelkamp Ltd. Partnership,Marietta, GA

Sunds Defibrator, Inc., Norcross, GA

Sunpine Forest Products LTD,

Sundre, AB, Canada

Swain Pentech, Inc., Three Lakes, WI

Temple-Inland Forest Products Co.,Diboll, TX

Timesavers, Inc., Minneapolis, MN

U-C Coatings Corp., Buffalo, NY

Union Carbide Corp.,Bound Brook, NJ

Wagner Electronic Prod., Inc.,Rogue River, OR

Wood Machinery Manufacturersof America, Philadelphia, PA

Wood Preservers, Inc.,Warsaw, VA

F O R E S T P R O D U C T S J O U R N A L V O L . 49 , N O . 11 /12 1 7

Value of Wood inHuman Societies

A critical consideration in any discussion of thefuture demand for industrial raw materials is popu-lation growth. All projections indicate a greatabsolute increase in global population in the future.One way to view this is that a child born today willlive in a world where the population will double dur-ing his or her expected lifetime. The greatest growthin population is likely to occur where the standardsof living are also expected to show the greatest rise.The result will be a world economy that will groweven more rapidly than the population. This meansthat demands for resources, which are already highon a per-capita basis, will rise even higher.

The historical record of world population growthis dramatic. World population doubled from 1850 to1950, then doubled again from 1950 to the present(1) (Fig. 1). Over each of the next four to fivedecades, global population is expected to increaseby approximately 900 million. These figures make itdramatically clear that tomorrow’s world will con-tain many more people than todays.

Tremendous quantities of wood are consumedeach year throughout the world. Approximately 3.5billion m3 of wood are harvested worldwide annual-ly; slightly more than half of this is used as fuelwood(9). Approximately 63 percent of the harvest con-sists of hardwoods, which are used primarily for fuelin the developing countries. Softwood is primarilyused for industrial purposes.

The global per-capita consumption of wood isapproximately 0.67 m3/year, a figure that hasremained essentially unchanged since 1960 (8). Thismeans that growth in wood demand worldwide isclosely following growth in world population.Assuming that this per-capita consumption trendcontinues, population increases alone will addapproximately 60 million m3 annually to world wooddemand (1).

Natural softwood forests of the world are found inthe Northern Hemisphere. Hardwood forests domi-nate the tropical and subtropical regions and theSouthern Hemisphere, and they occur in extensiveregions of the Northern Hemisphere as well. Overall,hardwoods are present in the greatest volumeworldwide. The potential for increased harvest of

Figure 1. World population, 1950 to 2050.Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census, international database (www.census.gov/ipc/www/img/world-pop.gif)

F O R E S T P R O D U C T S J O U R N A L V O L . 49 , N O . 11 /12 1 9

natural forests is constrained today by a number offactors, including limitations in the rate of growth,politics, and economic and environmental concerns.

Although estimates vary, the total area of forestplantations in the world amounts to between 120million and 140 million hectares, and it is increasingin both temperate and tropical countries. In thetropics especially, the present rate of plantationestablishment is double that recorded in the 1960sand 1970s (3,4). Tree plantations generally producemore wood per geographic area than do naturalforests because they are usually established onhighly productive sites, intensive silviculture ispracticed, and genetically selected growing stock isused. Plantations will clearly play a significant role,and perhaps even a dominant role, in providingfuture wood supplies. It is not known whether theplantation wood grown each year will be sufficient,in both quality and quantity, to meet anticipatedincreases in demand.

Worldwide Linkages andExpectations

Environmental, Social, andEconomic Concerns

It is clear that environmental, social, and eco-nomic concerns must be considered together.Ecological sustainability must provide a foundationupon which forest management worldwide can con-tribute significantly to economic and social sustain-ability. Conservation and wise management offorests can promote sustainability by providing for awide variety of uses, values, products, and services,and by enhancing society’s capability to make sus-tainable choices.

When the concept of sustainable developmentwas presented by the United Nation’s WorldCommission on Environment and Development in1987 (10), attention shifted to environmentalconcerns. However, the concept was one of balance:

the environment and the economy cannot be treatedseparately. Material needs must be met in ways thatpreserve the biosphere, and concern for thebiosphere must recognize material needs. Anotherimportant concept embedded in this strategy isrecognition of both the short and long term. TheCommission’s report clearly stated that sustainabledevelopment is “development that meets the needsof the present without compromising the ability offuture generations to meet their own needs.”

The question of conservation and utilization offorest resources must be balanced and is at the veryessence of the work of all of us who are concernedwith the management and utilization of naturalresources for sustainable development. The discus-sion must focus on how conservation and utilizationcan be combined harmoniously to derive the maxi-mum benefits for present and future generations.

The theme of worldwide linkages and expecta-tions means that the way in which wood isprocessed must be developed in a global context toachieve success in sustainable development. Localdecisions regarding timber harvest and use haveclear implications for other countries. Given the ris-ing demand, local decisions not to harvest in devel-oped countries create a higher economic incentiveto harvest elsewhere, most probably in developingcountries. In developing countries where naturalforests are not managed for regeneration, short-termharvest decisions can affect the availability of allforest resources in the long term.

The Case for ForestProducts Technology

Given this global context, what roles will forestproducts play in relationship to forests andforestry? In our opinion, forest products technologywill play a central role in meeting these challengesfor the following reasons:

Forest management is and will continue to benecessary to achieve desired forest conditions.Management that includes wood removal is acost-effective way to achieve ecosystem health.Wood technology will help provide choices forthe management and use of the forest.Sustainability must recognize the interdepen-dence of the environment and the economy.

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• Management for wood fiber will maintainprominence, but not dominance.

• We need to understand and embrace the valuesthe public is not willing to forego.

• More efficient use of wood fiber, including com-bining wood with other materials (rather thancompetition of wood with other raw materials),will be the focus of wood products research.

A brief historical review is appropriate as one wayof pointing out how a decline in wood resource avail-ability can be at least partially offset by increasingefficiencies in the use of the wood resource. In theUnited States, for example, product output per unitof wood input has risen by about 300 percent overthe past century (Fig. 2) (5).

Management Necessary to AchieveDesired Forest Conditions

For centuries, forests have been affected by bothnature-induced and human-induced influences.As populations grow, both the direct and indirectinfluence of people becomes greater. Whatever ourdesire with respect to forest condition, management(as compared to no management or interference)is essential.

In the August 1992 issue of Natural History, JaredDiamond (2) pointed out the fallacy of the notionthat no interference will lead to desired conditions.The author described a 526-hectare forest reserve inthe State of Missouri that was surrounded by agri-cultural land. When left to survive naturally, the areabecame overrun with deer and devoid of understoryvegetation. The surrounding land supported anexcess deer population, which affected all otherplant and animal species in the forest reserve. Here,a small area was affected by activities adjacent to it.Effects can also be widespread and the source of theproblem can be some distance away. Problems asso-ciated with acid deposition are one example.

The influence of management is easily demon-strable, but it is only part of why managementis needed to achieve our goals. Nature itself preferschange (6). As forests evolve, changes occur. Tomaintain a particular condition, managementis necessary.

Wood Removal: A Cost EffectiveWay to Achieve Ecosystem Health

Forest management costs money. Wood removalcan generate a return to cover these costs. This is

Figure 2. U.S. product output per unit of roundwood input (5).

F O R E S T P R O D U C T S J O U R N A L V O L . 49 , No . 11 /12 21

An effective method of achieving ecosystemhealth is to employ forest management systemsthat include wood removal.

the principle when forests are managed for woodproduction. Over time, forest management hasevolved to include multiple uses and to assure thehealth of the forest ecosystem.

With the evolution in management has come achange in the species, sizes, and quality of woodfiber available from the forest. Material formerly leftin the forest may now be creating forest healthproblems, such as susceptibility to fire or insectinfestations. Processes that are oriented to the useof various sizes of material and that are less species-specific can offer a value-added opportunity. This inturn can help cover management costs, and meetwood fiber needs as well as other managementobjectives.

Choices for Management and Use ofthe Forest Through Wood Technology

Rising population and associated increases indemand are not new. In the United States, our forestland base is about two-thirds the original forestedarea. Over the past century, population has morethan doubled, yet we’ve been able to accommodateincreases in wood fiber demand, along with risingdemands for other uses for the forest. To a greatextent, we have been able to keep pace with demandand improve our forest-related situation because ofnew technology. We know how to grow trees fasterand better, how to use wood more efficiently, moresafely, and longer, and how to manage forests for avariety of uses. The development of new wood tech-nologies has given forest managers more choices.

Interdependence ofEnvironment and Economy

In 1992, a report of the National Commission onthe Environment (7) endorsed the concept of sus-tainable development and went one step further.The Commission stated that “long-term growthdepends on a sound environment, and resources toprotect the environment will come from economicstrength.” The Commission’s point is important inboth respects. First, if we fail to keep the environ-ment and ecosystems healthy today, society willface some real problems in the future. Second, andequally important, a healthy economy is essential toa sound environment.

The relationship is circular: people can’t achieveeconomic strength without a healthy environment,and they won’t care as much about the environmentif they don’t have jobs and money. We need to beequally concerned about the economic well-being ofour population and our communities, and the well-being of our environment.

Prominence, Not Dominance

Concerns have been raised that wood fiber willgradually be phased out as a primary managementobjective on many forests worldwide. However,rising demand and the economic balance needed forsustainability suggest that this will not happen. Ourfeeling is that wood fiber will remain a prominentobjective for forest management, but it will not be asdominant as in the past.

Wood-processing technology will play a vital roleby serving to expand the forest manager’s optionsas new products and processes that can use nontra-ditional fiber supplies are developed. It will alsoestablish some limits to management options bydefining the economics of fiber removal and use.

Understanding and Embracing Public Values

In the past, the forester’s knowledge and skillguided management choices. Objectives were moresharply defined, often limited to optimizing woodproduction and cost efficiency. The forester“educated” the public on why certain actions weretaken. Public oversight was minimal. Today, the pub-lic is more aware of forest management issues andmore vocal about what they want from the forestand how it affects their quality of life. They aretelling us to be more environmentally sensitive to allaspects of the ecosystem, to make forests look morenatural, and to include beauty as a managementobjective. This attitude is exemplified by opposition

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to practices such as clearcutting and chemical con-trol of pests. Today’s headlines clearly illustratechanging public expectations.

We need to understand and incorporate thevalues the public is not willing to forego. These val-ues set some limits on what can and can’t be done,and they must be used to help guide our researchand management design.

Conservation, Not Competition

Over the years, wood products research hasfocused on increasing recovery, durability, safety,and use, often with the goal of making wood prod-ucts more desirable to consumers and moreeconomic to manufacturers, relative to other rawmaterials. Today the focus is similar, but the goalshave changed. Rising demand has meant that weneed to look at all resources and use them indepen-dently or in combination where they are best envi-ronmentally and economically. The goal is now con-servation of all raw materials in concert to meet peo-ple’s needs. Woodfiber/plastic composites are anexample of combining materials to take advantage ofthe strengths of each.

Meeting the Challenge

Forests are being squeezed between growingneeds and a shrinking resource base. The pressurebeing placed on the resource also pushes techno-logical developments to help divert those pressures.Historically, technology has aided conservation bymaking more efficient use of resources. That trendwill need to accelerate to meet today’s challenges.Key areas for research and development are use ofthe changing wood resource, extension of theresource, and environmentally friendly technologies.

Use of the Changing Wood Resource

Tomorrow’s wood products manufacturers willface a distinctly different resource than that avail-able today. The character of the wood supply varieswith the management regime. Plantation-growntrees are likely to be single species, even age, even-size class, relatively uniform, and geneticallyimproved. Trees produced under sustainableforestry principles are likely to be more diverse: ofmixed species, uneven age, and mixed size classifi-cation. As the concepts of sustainable forestry andsustainable development move into practice, indus-try will most likely find itself needing to utilize amuch more diverse raw material supply than it hasin the past.

There is a challenge involved here because indus-trial processes and products usually benefit from auniform, stable raw material supply that can be opti-mized more readily; in addition, product variabilityis generally reduced and processes are more stable.With a more diverse raw material supply, new tech-nologies will be needed to overcome the problemsof product and process variation. Today, technolo-gies such as composite products, nondestructiveevaluation (NDE), mechanical grading systems,and engineered wood products play an increas-ingly important role in adapting to a changingtimber resource.

The processes used to produce composite prod-ucts are generally more flexible in type and qualityof material used compared to processes for solidlumber products. One composite experiencingremarkable growth is oriented strandboard (OSB), aproduct made from wood particles aligned to obtainthe best engineered properties. OSB is being used inplace of plywood because of the difficulty of gettingveneer-grade logs and because it can be made froma wide variety of species and sizes. OSB now repre-sents more than 25 percent of the structural panelmarket, and the demand continues to grow. The rawmaterials for many OSB manufacturing plants areunderutilized species like aspen and yellow-poplar.

NDE is another technology that has allowed theuse of different species and sizes. NDE can be used

New technologies designed to utilize small-diameter timber can contribute to improvedecosystem health when the timber being usedcomes from overstocked stands.

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to determine the stiffness and strength of a piece oflumber, which reduces dependence on visual grades(which are species dependent) in favor of mechani-cal grading (which is species independent).Mechanical grading can allow a wider range ofspecies to be substituted for structural applications,as long as certain stiffness and strength require-ments are achieved.

Mechanical grading uses static bending tech-niques, vibration techniques, or stress waves todetermine stiffness. Research has demonstrated adirect relationship between the bending stiffness oflumber and its bending strength. The only way todetermine the actual bending strength of a board isto break it. Since that is not practical, the next bestavailable method is to measure the board’s stiffness,compute the modulus of elasticity, and then predictthe bending strength. Such procedures producemechanically graded lumber that is accepted by reg-ulatory agencies and all major building codes, pro-vided that production follows approved gradingagency certification and quality control procedures.

Extension of the Wood Resource

The volume of mechanically graded lumber pro-duced in the United States has increased by nearly25 percent over the past 4 years, especially in thehigher grades. A growing demand indicates that thistrend will continue. The popularity of mechanicallygraded lumber stems from its consistent reliabilityand superior visual and structural qualities. Thesequalities make this lumber ideal for engineeredwood products, such as roof and floor trusses,l-joists, and glue-laminated timbers, which dependon uniform, quantifiable properties to meet specificapplications for both residential and nonresidentialconstruction.

Increasing inventories of hardwoods are raisinginterest in the United States in using hardwood lum-ber in structural applications. However, efficient useof hardwoods for engineered wood products

depends upon grading systems that are comparableto softwood grading systems. Traditional visualgrading systems are species-specific and, for hard-woods, are geared for traditional uses such as furni-ture. Thus, mechanically graded hardwood lumberis gaining acceptance in engineered products.

Mechanically graded lumber is necessary for notonly structural uses of hardwood species, but alsosmall-diameter material. Difficulty in obtaining large-diameter logs has led to use of plantation-growntrees and material from thinnings, which requirenew technologies for efficient use. These technolo-gies have made possible the dramatic increase inthe use of engineered wood products. Prefabricatedwood l-joists are replacing wide lumber for bothfloor and ceiling joists in residential applications.These products are made with a web of either ply-wood or OSB and with flanges of either solid-sawnmechanically graded lumber or laminated veneerlumber (LVL).

LVL is one type of structural composite lumberthat requires veneers from large- or moderate-sizedlogs. Veneers for LVL are nondestructively evaluatedusing stress wave technology. LVL has the potentialfor very high-strength products and is most eco-nomical for high-strength applications. The sameprocessing technologies are used for orientedstrand lumber (OSL) as for OSB, but OSL has some-what lower engineering properties than LVL. Theseengineering properties will likely improve with newand better technologies.

Increased efficiency in converting wood to prod-ucts has traditionally been the cornerstone of the

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contribution of forest products technology to forestconservation. Since the 1980s, sawmill yields haveincreased dramatically as a result of improvedequipment and sawing techniques. Mills have alsoconverted by-products such as sawdust and slabs touseful products such as medium-density fiberboardand chips.

Recycling recoverable paper and wood wastesrepresents a major means of extending the woodresource by reducing the volume of timber harvest-ed for forest products. Recycling can also greatlyreduce the amount of wood-based waste sent tolandfills. At the same time, it can improve the vol-ume and value of material produced from each tree,create jobs, and increase economic growth.However, realizing these benefits depends on tech-nologies and market conditions that allow andencourage companies to use recovered materials inproducts. Worldwide, research and developmentefforts are developing technologies that create newmarkets and expand existing ones for productsmade from recovered paper and wood wastes.Research at the USDA Forest Service ForestProducts Laboratory (FPL) is aimed at overcomingkey technological barriers to utilizing recoverablepaper and wood wastes, identifying opportunities todevelop new technologies for recycled materials,and matching end-use performance with materialproperties. Areas for research and developmentare wastepaper-to-paper recycling, use of waste-paper and wood waste in non-paper items andhousing, nonstructural applications, and recyclingof treated wood.

Wastepaper-to-paper recycling research is aimedat overcoming problems associated with removinghot-melt and pressure-sensitive adhesive contami-nants from packaging materials, sorting fiber, usingenzymes to deink printing and writing papers,restoring papermaking properties, brighteningfibers for printing paper, and using underutilizedwastepaper such as office and mixed paper. Somewastepaper, however, may be too costly to recycleinto paper. Technologies are needed to utilize thiswastepaper in composite materials, which can beused for structural or nonstructural applications.Technologies for producing these compositematerials range from pulp molding to air-formingto extrusion.

Wood waste from construction and demolitionsites is in large supply. Such waste can potentially besubstituted for expensive virgin construction mate-rials as well as incorporated into molded products.

Recovered wood waste, like paper waste, can alsobe used to make composite materials. Unlike con-ventional lumber products, which are constrainedby straight line processes, products of compositeprocesses can be molded to finished dimensions,can be curved or edged as needed, and can incor-porate performance-enhancing treatments. Com-posite technologies also allow wastepaper andwood-waste-derived materials to be combined withother fibers or materials such as recovered post-consumer plastics. Woodfiber/plastic compositescan be used in a variety of housing and non-housingproducts, ranging from moldings to tote bins to cardoor panels.

Wood products treated for insect and decay resis-tance pose special problems for recycling. Manypreservative treatments contain toxic chemicalcompounds. Public concern about health effects onhumans has spurred tightened regulations for dis-posal of preservative-treated material and has limit-ed development of technology to recycle such mate-rials. Calls for tighter control of this wood waste arecolliding with its growing quantity. Utility poles andrailroad ties are continually being removed fromservice, and more than half the southern pine lum-ber produced in the United States is pressure treat-ed with preservatives. Research is exploring optionsfor re-using or recycling these materials, as well astheir use as fuels.

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Ongoing analyses of VOC emissions can pavethe way for the development of new woodproducts and processes that are more environ-mentally benign.

Environmental Sensitivity ofWood Products Technology

The challenges faced by forest managers arematched by those facing wood products manufac-turers. Public concern for air and water quality hasparalleled interest in forest management issues.Now, more than ever, the wood products industryneeds to avoid generation of pollutants during themanufacturing process and environmental problemsduring product use. Such “avoidance” technologieswill allow forest products to be manufactured withminimal environmental impact and reduce the needfor regulation and restoration.

Future Directions

In the early 1970s, the use of pressed wood prod-ucts such as particleboard and hardwood plywoodcreated indoor air quality problems, principally as aresult of formaldehyde emissions from adhesivesused to bond the wood products. Changes in adhe-sive formulations and processing modificationshave greatly decreased formaldehyde emissionproblems. More recently, the concern about volatileorganic compound (VOC) emissions resurfaced forwood products, both in use and during processing.Emissions from wood and wood-based materialsmay result from adhesives, natural components ofwood, and by-products of thermal degradation dur-ing wood processing, such as the drying of lumber in

kilns or pressing of reconstituted board products inheated platen presses. Some compounds reportedin wood or adhesive emissions are known to be haz-ardous to human health. Confirming the presence ofsuch compounds is essential to evaluating risks anddevising cost-effective and efficient risk-manage-ment strategies. FPL is developing new and novelmethods to determine how many and what kind ofVOCs are emitted from wood-based materials andhow processing affects their production. In this way,effective, efficient, and economical control strate-gies can be developed that both protect the con-sumer and mitigate or prevent adverse environmen-tal effects.

VOCs can be emitted not only from wood but alsothe finishes and coatings used to protect and pre-serve the wood. FPL is involved in developing newtechnologies that will help eliminate the use of VOC-based solvent systems for finishing and protectingwood from weathering and decay. Research is inves-tigating new water-based solvent systems as well asdetermining the surface degradation mechanismsby which wood and wood-based materials weather.By understanding the mechanisms involved andcombining this with knowledge of the performanceof water-based solvent finishing systems, new aque-ous and dry-powder finishing systems can bedevised that do not negatively impact the environ-ment or adversely affect human health.

Sustainable development must be based on theinterdependence of the environment and the econo-my. Wood technology is essential to this integration.

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Key areas for research and development includethe following:

• Determine new and better ways to extract,reduce, and convert virgin wood raw materialsto useful products.

• Develop technology to allow the re-use ofmaterials and products to the maximumextent possible.

• Ensure that the latest technologies for extract-ing, reducing, converting, using and re-usingwood raw materials are transferred to develop-ing nations as quickly as possible.

• Develop methods to ensure that renewableresources of all kinds, e.g., wood and agricultur-al crop residues, are converted to value-addeduses like advanced consumer and engineeredwood products.

• Develop technologies to reduce the emission ofVOCs during the manufacture of wood products.

This list represents but a few of the areasthat hold promise for advancing wood utilizationactivities to meet the needs of society whilekeeping a well-tuned balance among the ecological,economic, and social aspects of sustainableforest management.

The authors are, respectively, Research General Engineer, and Director, USDA ForestService, Forest Products Lab., One Gifford Pinchot Dr., Madison, WI 53705-2398.

Literature Cited

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Youngquist, John A., and Hamilton, Thomas E. 1999. Wood products utilization: A call for reflection and innovation. Forest Products J. 49(11/12):18-27.