Assessing Wood from Hurricane-Downed Trees in Puerto Rico

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After Hurricane Maria made landfall in September 2017, the storm left hundreds of thousands of downed trees in its wake. Many of the trees were species with commercially valuable wood, but which ones?

A huge pile of logs from hurricane-downed trees in Puerto Rico.
Wood from hurricane-downed trees in Puerto Rico. Species identification was needed to decide how to best use or dispose of the material.

To find out, an assessment of the post-hurricane wood, stored at 21 different locations around the island, was requested by Puerto Rico’s Department of Natural and Environmental Resources, or DNER. The Federal Emergency Management Agency supported this request through the Natural and Cultural Resources Recovery Support Function.  The Department of the Interior contacted the USDA Forest Service, and scientists Mike Wiemann of the Forest Products Laboratory and William Gould from the International Institute of Tropical Forestry developed an assessment of the species mix and log quality of the downed trees.

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Wood Tornado Shelter Provides Safe, Affordable Storm Protection

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USDA Forest Service researchers have developed a tornado shelter made of wood that provides powerful protection at an affordable cost.

With safety and security in mind, Forest Products Laboratory (FPL) engineers designed the residential tornado shelter to resist the high wind pressure and debris impacts generated by high-wind events.

Most importantly, the wood shelters can be built into an existing home using readily available materials and tools.

A F3 tornado sets down in a field. Image credit: Clint Spencer via iStock
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Mass Timber University Grant Program Initiated by U.S. Endowment and USDA Forest Service

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The following is a press release from the U.S Endowment for Forestry and Communities.

The U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities (Endowment), in partnership with the United States Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service (USFS), today announced the initiation of the Mass Timber University Grant Program (Grant Program) and related Request for Proposals (RFP) to promote the construction of mass timber buildings on institutions of higher learning campuses across the U.S. The intent of the Grant Program is to inspire interest in and support for mass timber products among the architectural, developer and building communities as well as the public, by showcasing them in highly-visible projects on university campuses.  

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Women in Ag Award Presented to FPL Researcher

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Roderquita Moore, a research chemist at the Forest Products Laboratory, received the Inspiring Woman in STEM award as part of the 2018 USDA Women in Ag award program. The winners represent a range of career paths from various agencies across USDA and they are located all around the world.

FPL research chemist
Roderquita Moore

Read more about Moore’s career journey and highlights written in her own words below. Congratulations, Roderquita!

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World Wildlife Fund Features Work with FPL

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The World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the world’s leading conservation organization, featured a partnership with the Forest Products Laboratory (FPL) in their 2018 Annual Report.

The World Wildlife Fund’s 2018 Annual Report featured their partnership with FPL.

Since 2016, FPL’s Center for Wood Anatomy Research, in partnership with the World Wildlife Fund, World Resources Institute, and Simeone Consulting, LLC, has been working to establish data on product misrepresentation in the American consumer market for forest products.  In addition to asking questions about the presence and prevalence of product misrepresentation, the partnership also sought to document the availability, willingness, and capability of forensic wood expertise in the United States.  The full results of the study are under review by a peer-reviewed journal, and it is hoped that this pioneering work will be published soon.  In addition, WWF and FPL are looking to the future for further collaborative projects.

A link to the full WWF Annual Report can be found here. The project with FPL is featured second on the web page.