2007 Annual

Meeting Sponsors

• Taylor Machine Works Inc.

• Perforex

• Timber Mart-South

August 24, 2007

SPC Speakers to Address Key Issues

A key event at the upcoming SFPA Annual Meeting in Charleston, S.C., is a meeting of the Southern Pine Council (SPC), a joint promotional effort of SFPA and the Southeastern Lumber Manufacturers Association (SLMA). An outstanding slate of speakers should make the SPC meeting on Oct. 1 extremely beneficial for all who attend. 

National Frame Building Association (NFBA) board member Tom Rogers will tell the group about NFBA’s initiative to increase post-frame construction sales and post-frame market penetration by 25% in five years. Tom is iLevel Marketing-DF/HF lumber product manager for Weyerhaeuser Company. Post-frame construction, which primarily uses wood-based structural framing members (columns, walls, roof trusses, rafters, etc.), has traditionally been associated with agricultural applications such as “pole barns.” The NFBA initiative aims to show design/build professionals that post-frame construction can also be applied to residential, commercial and industrial projects. NFBA President Tom Knight will assist with the presentation.

Dr. Joe Lstiburek, a principal with Building Science Consulting LLC and an ASHRAE Fellow, will explain why “Wood is Good and Treated Wood is Better.” Joe has 25 years experience in design, construction, investigation and building science research. His presentation will examine the increasing importance of wood in the construction sector as North America transitions from a hydrocarbon-based economy to a carbohydrate-based economy.

Dr. Stephen Grado, professor of forestry at Mississippi State University, will explain how the Forest Stewardship Council’s (FSC) chain-of-custody certification process works. Steve holds an undergraduate degree in political science from Villanova University, a master’s degree in forest science and operations research from Penn State University and a doctorate from the Penn State University School of Forest Resources. He considers himself a natural resource economist specializing in issues relating to ecosystem services, outdoor/forest recreation, wildlife economics, human dimensions of natural resources, urban and community forestry, eco-tourism and forest certification.

For more information on the SPC meeting agenda and speakers, contact SFPA Vice President of Marketing Steve Bean at 504/443-4464, ext. 234, or sbean@sfpa.org. 

Registering for the Meeting

If you haven’t already done so, now is the time to sign up for SFPA’s 2007 Annual Meeting, Sept. 29 through Oct. 2 in Charleston, S.C. Make your hotel reservations no later than Aug. 30 to ensure that you get a room and SFPA’s special meeting rate of $189 for single or double rooms. Call the Francis Marion Hotel at 843/722-0600 or 877/756-2121 and tell the reservation clerk you are attending the SFPA Annual Meeting to qualify. For more information, see our Annual Meeting brochure or contact Dianne Breaux at 504/443-4464, ext. 225, or dbreaux@sfpa.org. 

We also welcome Timber Mart-South as our newest Annual Meeting sponsor. They join sponsors Taylor Machine Works Inc. and Perforex.

America’s Forestland Still Abundant

Those who worry that America’s forests might be in danger of depletion can relax. A recent study published by the Society of American Foresters (SAF) reports that the United States has 750 million acres of forestland, which is about the same amount it has had for the past 100 years. Here are some other key findings:

• An estimated 25% of U.S. private forestland is managed in accordance with one of the three major forest certification programs in the United States – Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI), Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and American Tree Farm System (ATFS), and conservation initiatives on private land, such as easements are becoming increasingly common.

• On average, 11% of the world’s forestland benefits from some type of conservation effort. In the United States, 20% is protected by conservation initiatives.

• Historical trends indicate that the standing inventory (volume of growing stock) of hardwood and softwood species in U.S. forests grew by 49% between 1953 and 2006.

• Currently, the volume of annual net timber growth is 36% higher than the volume of annual timber removals.

• Assessments of biodiversity on the nation’s forests have found that the annual rate at which species are listed as threatened or endangered has declined five-fold.

There is a downside. The report states almost 8% of U.S. forests or approximately 58 million acres were at significant risk from insect and disease mortality; and according to the U.S. Forest Service, 14% of the plant species on non-crop lands in the Midwest are non-native, invasive plants. Also, the number of forest fires in the United States has been unusually high during the past decade, especially in the West, affecting an average of 5.8 million acres per year; and a recent study estimated that more than 44 million acres of private forestlands could experience substantially increased housing density over the next three decades.

Another interesting tidbit – the South contained 28% of the nation’s forestland in 2005, followed by the North with 23%, the Rocky Mountain region with 20%, the Pacific Coast with 12% and Alaska with 17%.

For full details, download a PDF copy of the 68-page study. Abundant Forest Alliance and its members contributed a major portion of the funding for the report, which was peer-reviewed by researchers from non-governmental organizations and federal agencies.  

Weyerhaeuser Awards $60,000 Grant for LCA Tool

Weyerhaeuser Company Foundation recently awarded Athena Institute International a $60,000 grant to improve decision-making tools that can help reduce the environmental impacts of building commercial and residential structures.

“For more than a decade, the Athena Institute has been helping architects, engineers and others to evaluate the environmental impacts of new and existing buildings through life cycle assessments,” said Karen Johnson, president of the Weyerhaeuser Company Foundation. “This grant will help them improve tools for assessing how building products and systems affect the environment.”

Wayne Trusty, president of the Athena Institute, said the grant will be used to update the ATHENA® Impact Estimator for Buildings. The software is the only system in North America that evaluates whole buildings and assemblies based on internationally recognized life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology.

PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION  

mechanical means, without written authorization from SFPA is prohibited.