News UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON College of Forest Resources M E S S A G E FROM THE DEAN The overarching goal of our participation in Campaign UW: Creating Futures is to provide funding for transformational change at our College. One critical element of this goal is to ensure an outstanding faculty who can lead the way in educating the next generation of natural resources scientists and professionals, advancing cuttingedge research and transferring breakthrough technologies, and sustaining the economic, social, and ecological values of our Northwest world. Recruiting and supporting a well-educated and highly motivated faculty is critical to our long-term success. In the spirit of transformation, at least ten new faculty members will join the College over the next 15 months, a remarkable enhancement of our teaching, research, and outreach capabilities. Our College, one of the oldest units on the UW campus and one of the original natural resource programs in the country, has had several opportunities during its long and distinguished history to hire a new generation of faculty to lead into the future. Looking back over the College’s record of research and teaching, it is gratifying to realize that the faculty we have hired over the years have made a remarkable contribution to the understanding and the management of our planet’s natural resources. Our past and current research in topics such as sustainable forestry, fire ecology, ecological restoration, invasive and endangered species, urban sustainability, global warming, forest productivity, paper science and engineering, and natural resources policy continues to contribute to political, social, and economic decisions made every day by leaders and citizens and is a key element in our state and regional economy. Our upcoming Distinguished Alumni Speakers Series highlights our alumni who, over the years, have assumed leadership positions across a wide range of disciplines and professions. This is further tangible evidence of the quality of our faculty’s teaching and mentoring. Faculty searches are currently underway in four areas: remote sensing and biospatial analysis (supported by Precision Forestry Cooperative (PFC) funds), plant sciences, natural products chemistry, and for the director of the Center for Sustainable Forestry at Pack Forest who will be a non-tenured faculty member engaged in teaching, research, and service both at the Center and on the Seattle campus. These positions are expected to be filled by Autumn 2006. Another search will begin soon for a second faculty position supported on PFC funds. An additional four “bridge” positions have been approved by the UW administration that will be repaid using the next four faculty retirements from the College. In addition, the Cascadia Field Station of the U.S. Geological Survey will reopen at the College with Dr. Christian Torgerson assuming a courtesy faculty appointment in quantitative landscape ecology. The areas in which we are seeking faculty were identified through rigorous strategic planning over the last five years to chart our future direction and ensure our continuing relevance to society. As faculty retirements continue to occur, we will be recruiting additional new faculty. This is an exciting time for the College as we continue to achieve our vision of world class leadership in natural resources and environmental sustainability. We look forward to introducing all of the new members of our community to you, our constituents, in future issues of the CFR News. B. Bruce Bare Stand Management Cooperative field trip. Stand Management Cooperative Celebrates 20-year Anniversary The Stand Management Cooperative (SMC) was founded at the UW College of Forest Resources in 1985. Its mission is to provide a continuing source of high quality information on the long-term effects of silvicultural treatments and treatment regimes on stand and tree growth and development and on timber and wood product quality. This year, SMC celebrates its 20th anniversary, and events at the annual meeting in September, held at the College’s Center for Sustainable Forestry at Pack Forest, included retrospectives from members, some of whom have been with the cooperative since its earliest days. Current membership includes 22 dues-paying land managing organizations, three suppliers and four analytical organizations (consultants) that provide materials and expertise, and seven institutions that contribute in-kind scientific and technical assistance. A Policy Committee of duespaying members is charged with establishing the highest possible technical standards in carrying out the SMC mission. Technical Advisory Committees in silviculture, nutrition, wood quality, and modeling comprised of leading scientists develop plans for research projects for approval by the Policy Committee. The nutrition component was a result of the 1991 merger of the SMC with the Regional Forest Nutrition Research Program (RFNRP), which began at the College in 1969. Says SMC Director Dave Briggs, “The long-term future of the forest industry in the Pacific Northwest depends in part on the productivity of the region’s forests and the use of silviculturally sound, cost-effective management regimes. Large plantations are being established and managed using intensive silviculture. Managers need reliable projections of the results of alternative silvicultural practices in order to evaluate investments and choose the best management regimes.” The cost of establishing and maintaining long-term research on a scale needed to build an adequate regional database and understanding is beyond the capabilities of any single organization. “The SMC provides this pool of funding, scientific talent, and long term continuity,” says Briggs. (continued on page two) In this issue STAND MANAGEMENT COOPERATIVE AT TWENTY “The College of Forest Resources: creating futures since 1907.” NATIONAL ECOLOGICAL OBSERVATORY NETWORK SOUTH AFRICA FORESTRY SCHOOL ALUMNI FOCUS COLLEGE NEWS FALL 2 0 0 5 Stand Management Cooperative... (continued from page one) Over the years, long-time RFNRP and SMC project managers and technicians like Bob Gonyea and Bert Hasselberg have helped SMC maintain 441 installations in British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon, primarily in Douglasfir and Western Hemlock. The installations, which are tracked in a database, contain 4,566 plots with a variety of treatments. These contain almost 258,057 trees which together have received 1,337,964 measurements. Soil survey data, vegetation surveys, and stem section information are also collected. The SMC is currently monitoring 95 Type I, II, and III installations. Begun in the late 1980s, these three types represent a wide range of site conditions and geographic areas. Each installation contains a series of treatment plots examining a set of thinning, fertilizing, and pruning regimes. Thirty-eight Type I installations were established in juvenile plantations before the onset of intertree competition. Twelve Type II installations were established in plantations reaching commercial thinning age and assumed to reflect conditions that the Type I plots would eventually achieve. The SMC’s true objective, however, is embodied in the 38 Type III installations, each planted at six planting spacings using common reforestation practices of the late 1980s to early 1990s. Although most work on the RFNRP installations has been completed, the SMC also continues to monitor seven harvested RFNRP installations for effects of prior fertilization on the new stand. And, in collaboration with the USFS PNW Research Station Genetics Team and Oregon State University’s Northwest Tree Improvement Cooperative, the SMC is creating a series of new installations to examine genetics, vegetation control, and spacing on growth and yield and quality. The installations are providing a wealth of new data that is leading to improved understanding of early intensive management and supporting the development of improved management models. Among research accomplishments, the SMC has sponsored a large study on the processing of plantation Douglas-fir into lumber and veneer that established important linkages among silviculture, log quality, and value. It completed studies on modeling branch and crown structure and occlusion after pruning in young Douglas-fir. SMC-ORGANON, a first-phase growth and yield model, was developed in the 1990s based on data sets supplied by members; a phase-two update based on SMC installation data will be released later this year. Publications and workshops transfer the latest research results to members and to the public. “Other accomplishments over the years,” says Briggs, “include collaboration with other cooperatives in the region and international organizations like the New Zealand Douglas-fir Cooperative, and the professional and academic successes of the more than 40 graduate students who have worked with the SMC. And the most satisfying accomplishment of all is the knowledge that the work we have done together has benefited all of our members.” Mike Mosman, Vice President of Resources for Port Blakely Tree Farms, a long-time cooperative member agrees: “Port Blakely Tree Farms is a family owned company committed to managing its timberlands in a responsible, sustainable manner. The high quality information generated by the SMC provides us with the tools to make good science-based management decisions consistent with our goal of being good land stewards.” Mariano Amoroso (’04) worked with SMC as a master’s degree student researching growth and yield of Douglas-fir and Western Hemlock. Amoroso is now in the silviculture PhD program at the University of British Columbia. Bert Hasselberg, SMC Field Crew member pruning a SMC Type I Douglas-fir plot in Oregon. National Ecological Observatory Network The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) is a new federal effort to establish a nationwide ecological observation system designed to answer scientific questions at regional and continental scales. The data collected will make it possible for scientists to predict changes in the nation’s ecosystems and their consequences. NEON received initial two-year funding of $6 million in September 2004 for development of a comprehensive plan now well underway, with coordination by the American Institute for Biological Sciences. CFR Professor Jerry Franklin serves on the senior management team for this planning effort. Originally, each observatory in the network was to represent a different ecogeographic region. In subsequent scientific reviews and in meetings of the Network’s Design Committee, the possibilities of organizing NEON around national environmental issues, or some combination of regional, climatic, and issue-based organization have been proposed. In recent meetings, the Design Committee has explored the idea that NEON’s observatory infrastructure should gather data across land use types reflecting a gradient of human influence and transitions from terrestrial to aquatic landscapes. A second consideration is to span the range of climate types or “domains” across the U.S. A Pacific Northwest regional consortium, the PNW Regional Ecological Observatory (PNW-REO), has been organized with support from the UW, Oregon State University (OSU), and Portland State University. The PNW-REO, led by Professors Bob Edmonds (CFR) and Mark Harmon (OSU), in turn belongs to the umbrella Consortium of Regional Ecological Observatories, whose members recently met to discuss criteria for potential observatory sites, or “nodes,” within the national network. The Wind River Canopy Crane Research Facility has been identified as one potential site. According to Franklin, “We have an incredibly challenging set of tasks ahead of us — selecting and refining the scientific questions that NEON will address, identifying the essential infrastructure, creating a blueprint for the creation of NEON, and establishing the non-profit corporation that will carry it forward.” NEON will transform the way ecological research is conducted by bringing ecologists and engineers together with social, computer, and earth scientists to investigate important ecological phenomena across large geographical areas and long periods of time, and by creating new collaborative environments across multiple scientific disciplines. The network will also provide unique educational opportunities for students and the public alike. One of the goals of the project designers is to make NEON as well known as NASA through public outreach and education. Franklin says, “Our work now is the opportunity to influence the ultimate shape of NEON, which is very likely to be the only major increase in support for ecological research in the next several decades.” For more information on NEON, see http://www.neoninc.org/. The Wind River Canopy Crane Research Facility is a potential NEON site. Photo: Mary Levin. College News Plant sales at the Arboretum bring many visitors to UWBG. Photo: WPA Collection. UW Botanic Gardens Is New Umbrella Term for Key UW Horticultural Features The Washington Park Arboretum (WPA), Center for Urban Horticulture (CUH), Elisabeth C. Miller Library, Otis Hyde Herbarium, and Union Bay Natural Area began operating this summer under the umbrella, “University of Washington Botanic Gardens” (UWBG). “The new designation recognizes the conservation, research, and educational outreach underway here, as well as the display of plants,” says Professor David Mabberley, who assumed the title Director of the UWBG. Mabberley initiated the approval process for the change within weeks of his arrival at the College as Director of CUH and WPA. The units within UWBG all retain their individual names. A mission statement developed this spring states that the UWBG will concern itself with “sustaining managed to natural ecosystems and the human spirit through plant research, display, and education.” UWBG conservation and research programs include work in rare plant conservation and restoration ecology. The new administrative framework complements and enhances the College’s strategic themes centering on the concept of natural resources and environmental sustainability. Trees Are Good for Business Members of the College community recently collaborated on a new publication, Trees Are Good for Business, which provides technical guidance on how to plan and implement an urban forestry program in downtown business districts. It was distributed to every Chamber of Commerce and business association in Washington State and to many local governments. Research Scientist Kathy Wolf worked on the project in partnership with the PNW Chapter of the International Society of Arboriculture (PNW-ISA). The project was funded by the Washington Department of Natural Resources Urban Forestry Program and the U.S. Forest Service. Two College Trees are an integral feature of Washington’s downtown business cores. Photo: Guy Kramer. alums were technical contributors: Elizabeth Walker (’93), City Forester for Kirkland, Washington, and Stacey (Harris) Ray (’03), Urban Forestry Program Specialist for the City of Olympia, Washington. The publication recently received the ISA Special Projects Banner Award for 2005; it is available free of charge from PNW-ISA by contacting info@pnwisa.org. cycle and global warming and how to use concepts related to these processes in current mathematics curricula. Professor Bob Lee provided instruction in the role of forests in the global carbon cycle, including how forests sequester carbon, the release of carbon into the atmosphere due to deforestation, and how forestry might contribute solutions to the challenges posed by global warming. As part of their study, the group measured the carbon content of trees on sections of Washington Department of Natural Resources timberland. ONRC Holds Summer Math Institute ONRC staff and UW faculty in forest resources, education, and mathematics collaborated on a Summer Math Institute to help regional math teachers further their skills using the latest inquiry-based teaching methods. The elementary, middle, and high school teachers came from small, rural communities along the Washington coast to focus on learning about the carbon Measuring trees for carbon content during ONRC’s Summer Math Institute. Photo: George McCormick, Forks Forum. Highlights Faculty appointments and promotions during Spring and Summer 2005 include the appointments of Charles Amundson and Joseph Roos as Research Associates; Robert Fimbel, Anne Kearney, and Dan Peplow as Affiliate Assistant Professors; Matthew Vander Haegan as Affiliate Associate Professor; Anne Steinemann as Adjunct Professor, Al Wagar as Emeritus Research Professor, and the promotions of Sally Brown to Research Associate Professor and Sarah Reichard to Associate Professor. Faculty awards include: Dave Peterson, who received a Scientific Achievement Award at the XXII IUFRO World Congress; Jerry Franklin, who received the 11th annual Heinz Award for the Environment for his research on the ecological value of old-growth forests in the Pacific Northwest; Linda Brubaker (along with co-authors Dan Gavin (’00) and Kenneth Lertzman), whose paper received the 2005 William S. Cooper Award from the Ecological Society of America; Sally Brown, who along with Adjunct Lecturer Chuck Henry, received one of King County’s Green Globe Awards; and David Mabberley, who was elected President of the International Association for Plant Taxonomy. Alumni Focus The Washington Pulp and Paper Foundation (WPPF) annual meeting in May included remarks by UW President Mark Emmert recognizing the strength and importance of the partnership between the UW, the College’s paper science and engineering program, and the WPPF. Kathy Buckman Gibson, Chairman of the Board for Buckman Laboratories, was the keynote speaker. The College’s Visiting Committee met on May 25, 2005 with an agenda focused on the College’s ongoing effort to update its three-year goals. The meeting also included a discussion of communication and public relations efforts by the UW and the College and ways in which committee members might assist. Book publications by faculty included Ecological Responses to the 1980 Eruptions of Mount St. Helens with chapter by Jerry Franklin (May 2005) from Springer and In the Company of Crows and Ravens by John Marzluff and Tony Angell (August 2005) from Yale University Press. The Elisabeth C. Miller Library celebrated its 20th anniversary in May with more than 100 supporters and guests. UWBG Director David Mabberley highlighted the occasion with a presentation on the library's collection of rare books. A crowd of nearly 50 attended the Denman Forestry Issues Series on June 2, 2005 to hear speakers discuss “The Changing Northwest Forest: Keeping the landscape green.” Speakers included Gene Duvernoy from the Cascade Land Conservancy, and Michael Andreu, Gordon Bradley, John Calhoun, Bruce Lippke, and Kevin Zobrist from the College. Denman programs are recorded by UWTV in digital format and broadcast nationwide on the UWTV cable channel and the ResearchChannel. They can also be viewed via streaming video at the UWTV website. The series is funded with support from Mary Ellen and W. Richard Denman. Alumni News William Hagenstein (‘38!) is still going strong as a consulting forester in Portland, OR since retiring from his four-decade run as Executive Vice President of the Industrial Forestry Association. Ray Miller (’58) recently published Forests, People and Oregon: A History of Forestry in Oregon. The book chronicles the history of forestry and forest Degrees granted at the College’s June 2005 graduation ceremony included 84 BS, 75 MS/MFR and 12 PhD degrees. Cassie Phillips (’76), Weyerhaeuser Company Vice President for Sustainable Forestry, gave the keynote address, focusing on the importance of lifelong learning. The Cascadia Field Station of the U.S. Geological Survey will reopen at the College with the arrival of landscape ecologist Christian Torgersen in Autumn Quarter. In Center news, the Center for Water and Watershed Studies has been renamed The Water Center, and administration of the Center for Quantitative Science was transferred jointly to the College and the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences from the Office of Undergraduate Education. The College held its annual strategic planning meeting on September 20, 2005. The half-day workshop provided a chance to finalize goals and objectives for the coming three years. Ray Miller ('58), with recently published book on Oregon forestry. Ray Larson ('05), Head Gardener at UW President Mark Emmert's residence, with one of the Emmert family dogs, Matty. Photo: Nicole Moore. Alumni Annual Meeting and Banquet Scheduled for November The College’s Alumni Association (CFRAA) will hold its annual meeting and banquet on November 4, 2005 at the College’s UW Botanic Gardens, Center for Urban Horticulture. For more than 90 years, CFR alumni, faculty, staff, and students have gathered every year to reconnect, honor achievement, learn from each other, and share a meal. Events include the 12 p.m. meeting and a 2 p.m. College Research Showcase on the Precision Forestry Cooperative, both in the Isaacson Classroom, a 5 p.m. social in the Merrill Hall Commons, and the 7 p.m. annual banquet in NHS Hall. Ray Larson (’05) is the featured banquet speaker, talking about “The Flora of Seattle in 1850: Major species and landscapes prior to urban development.” Make a reservation now (required) for the banquet online at UWalum.com or by calling 1-800-AUW-ALUM. “Planting the Future while Celebrating the Past,” a celebration of John Wott’s directorship of the Washington Park Arboretum, was held at the Graham Visitors Center on June 4th, 2005. Materials Manager for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. management in Oregon from the 1700s to the present. After graduation, Miller began a 38-year professional career with the Oregon State Department of Forestry. He first worked in timber sales and inventory in Astoria and then as a reforestation forester on the Tillamook Burn site. He also worked as a Tillamook District forester, an inventory forester, and in resource planning. Since retiring, he has worked on forest history projects, as well as tracking the progress of several forestry-related bills during Oregon’s legislative sessions. Kenton Miller (’62, ’63), former World Conservation Union Director, received the Bruno H. Schubert Environment Prize for his lifetime achievements in conservation, particularly his pioneering work in protected area development and management. Recently retired as Vice President for Conservation at the World Resources Institute, Miller has had a long and varied career in conservation, working on all continents, including Antarctica. He writes, “My years at CFR were fundamental in my achievements, and they were great and enjoyable human experiences.” Don Dickmann (’64), Professor Emeritus at Michigan State University, recently published Michigan Forest Communities: A Field Guide and Reference. Dickmann dedicated the book to the late Professor C. Frank Brockman who, he writes, “was both an inspiration and a mentor to me during my years at CFR.” John Phipps (’73, ’75) was recently appointed Deputy Regional Forester for Resources in the U.S. Forest Service’s eastern region based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Phipps had previously served since 1999 as the Forest Supervisor at Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. John Turner (’75) received a Scientific Achievement Award at the XXII IUFRO World Congress in Brisbane, Australia. Turner, currently Director and Principal Research Scientist with the forest research company Forsci Pty Ltd., was employed for more than 30 years as Senior Research Scientist and the Director of Research for State Forests of New South Wales. Dave Schiller (’82) was recently awarded certification by the National Association of Fleet Administrators as a Certified Fleet Manager. Schiller is the Fleet, Safety, and Chris Chappell (’91) is a Vegetation Ecologist with the Washington Department of Natural Resources Natural Heritage Program. He was recently featured in a Tacoma News Tribune article on Point Defiance Park, along with big-tree expert Robert Van Pelt (’91, ’95). Mason McKinley (’97, ’02) , formerly Staff Forester at C.L. Pack Experimental Forest, now works with The Nature Conservancy’s Olympia, Washington office managing recovery plans for prairie, pine, oak, and wetland systems on the Fort Lewis and McCord military bases. Dan Peplow (’97, ’03) is currently working with the Suriname Indigenous Health Fund measuring mercury pollution from gold mining. He was recently appointed CFR Affiliate Assistant Professor. In memoriam Edward W. Anderson (’40) Everett Ellis (’45, ’50) International Forestry School in South Africa “The school attracted students from around the world,” reports Carrie Spradlin, “including four from the U.S (besides us, one from Auburn University), two from Krakow University in Poland, one from the University of Parana in Brazil, and five from the University of KZN. This diversity allowed us the exchange of information regarding forestry issues in each respective country, as well as a lively and intriguing cross cultural exchange. We enjoyed attempting to translate phrases from English to Zulu to Polish and Portuguese!” International Forestry School participants. CFR's Brian and Carrie Spradlin (back row center with sunglasses) and Joel Randrup (front row left) attended. Three students from the College traveled to South Africa in July to attend a threeweek International Forestry School hosted by the University of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) in Pietermaritzberg. Carrie Spradlin, Brian Spradlin, and Joel Randrup received funding from the Lockwood Endowment for Program Enhancement to attend the session, which focused on sub-tropical commercial forestry within the province of KZN. KZN is the most densely populated region of South Africa; it stretches north from the port city of Durban to the Mozambique and Swaziland borders. An incredibly diverse area, it includes several types of sub-tropical forest, a towering mountain range, mangrove swamps, thorn veld, beaches, and grassland. Throughout the three-week tour of southern KZN and Zululand the students became aware of the many issues and struggles facing commercial, community, and small farm forestry within South Africa. Environmental regulations are just being introduced by the budding democratic government, and large and small landowners are becoming aware of the environmental impacts of agro-forestry, although the long road to conservation has just begun. The students report: “Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification is a hot topic among corporate and cooperative pulp and paper producers. Issues of social sustainability were also raised throughout the school. AIDS/HIV, poverty, and social oppression have all significantly impacted forestry in South Africa and mechanization, wages, and health care were major discussion topics.” The group also visited several game parks and many historical sites and buildings. “This was an amazing, once in a lifetime opportunity for us,” say the Spradlins and Randrup. “Cross cultural education helps open minds and develop an international community of students focused on natural resource management.” The Spradlins, who received BS degrees from the College this spring, have gone on to enroll in the College’s Peace Corps Masters International Program. Randrup is an undergraduate studying wildlife science. WAYS OF GIVING Starting on December 6, 2005, student callers in the Student Calling Program will be telephoning alumni and friends of the College of Forest Resources to ask for your support. The College relies heavily on gifts to advance the quality of education it provides, along with offering scholarship assistance. Please show your support by responding positively. Every gift, no matter the size, makes a difference! Highlights of the College’s participation in “Campaign UW: Creating Futures” includes reaching a pledge goal of $400,000 to endow the David Scott Endowed Professorship, thanks to the Weyerhaeuser Company Foundation, Mort Lauridsen (’38), and other alumni and friends. These and other gifts are expected to trigger UW Founders Matching Gift Initiative funds of more than $500 thousand. Private financial support for the College of Forest Resources helps create our future by supporting students, faculty, and programs. If you are considering a gift to the College, please consider these ways of giving: • • • • Annual gifts to existing funds Online gifts to existing funds Planned Giving to all funds Establishment of private endowments For information on how you can support the College of Forest Resources, please contact Tom Mentele at 206.543.9505, tmentele@u.washington. edu, or make a gift online at http://uwfoundation.org/giving_opps/ school_opps/forest_resources.asp. Upcoming Events Calendar OCTOBER 18 UWBG Professional Education, “Trees and Climate Change Symposium,” UWBG, CUH. OCTOBER 25 UWBG Public Education, “The Street Smart Naturalist,” UWBG, CUH. NOVEMBER 4 CFRAA Annual Meeting and Banquet, UWBG, CUH. CFR News FEBRUARY 9 & 23, 2006 NOVEMBER 9 CFR Distinguished Alumni Lecture Series, UW campus. NOVEMBER 17 Denman Forestry Issues Series: “Water Supply and Stormwater Issues in the Pacific Northwest,” UWBG, CUH. NOVEMBER 21-22 Working Forests Forum, Alderbrook Resort, Union, WA. CFR-UWAA Lectures Series, “Sustaining our NW World,” UW campus MARCH 9 CFR-UWAA Lectures Series, “Sustaining our NW World,” UW campus Please direct all corrections and inquiries to CFR News, University of Washington, College of Forest Resources, Box 352100, Seattle, WA 98195-2100. EMAIL: cece@u.washington.edu PHONE: 206-543-3075 Share your news: CFR alumni activities and successes are of interest and inspiration to faculty, students, staff, alumni, and friends of CFR. Update your contact information at http://www.washington.edu/alumni/addresschange.html. This newsletter can also be found on line at: www.cfr.washington.edu. UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON College of Forest Resources C A M PA I G N U W : C R E AT I N G F U T U R E S University of Washington College of Forest Resources Box 352100 Seattle, WA 98195 News Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage Paid Seattle, WA Permit No. 62