ME00358-07 J. Leahy
Investigating the role of environmental interpretation, education, and communication in the outdoor recreation benefits
of Maine
The research will consist of a series of case studies conducted throughout Maine using a mixed-method approach of
qualitative and quantitative methods. The first step, however, will be to develop a comprehensive literature review,
which is necessary to understand what research has already been done in Maine, the status of benefits-based management
research in the United States, and identification of relevant environmental communication, interpretation, or education
theories that apply to forest-based recreation situations in Maine. A qualitative approach will be most appropriate for
some case study situations, as it will be exploratory research that delves into benefits and the influence of communication
on benefit attainment. Qualitative data will be collected either through semi-structured interviews or focus groups.
This approach is justified by the current state of research. Very few studies have examined the interplay of benefits
and communication. Therefore, qualitative research, such as in-depth interviews or focus groups, in this area is needed.
Once qualitative research has been analyzed and testable propositions are developed, quantitative case studies will be
pursued. On-site or mail surveys will be distributed to participants selected from case study populations. Interpretation,
communication, education, benefits-based management, trust, social capital d testable propositions are developed,
quantitative case studies will be pursued. On-site or mail surveys will be distributed to participants selected from
case study populations.
ME08850-07 B. Goodell, B. Cole, H. Dagher, D. Gardner, R. Rice, S. Shaler
Wood utilization research on US biofuels, bioproducts, hybrid biomaterials composites production, and traditional forest
products
Wood is one of our most abundant natural resources, and with adequate basic and applied research that is focused
on real-world problems, we can provide biobased solutions to issues such as the energy crisis and the need for
"home-grown" fuels, to the development of new products that will better protect homeowners as well as protecting
our armed forces personnel. This project examines new ways to use wood that will help existing industries grow and c
ompete in the global marketplace, but that also advances the ways that we use wood; for example in the production of
liquid biofuels and bioproducts or alternately in new hybrid composites for modern engineered structures.
ME09603-07 R. Rice
Assessment of several properties of wood related to thermal properties and volatile organic chemical release
Thermal efficiency of building panels is increasingly important to the northeast and the measurements leading
to the calculation of efficiency have not been done for years. This project will measure those parameters for use
in energy calculations. Also, legal mandates arising from the 1990 amendment to the Clean Air and Water Act and
other legislation that have focused attention on the volatile and condensate emissions from the lumber drying process.
Gathering data to assess VOC levels is costly and time consuming and the variability is large. The University of Maine
has been active in the assessment of these emissions on several fronts including human and environmental health. We
will continue these studies to look at the variability that exists in VOC release from trees from different locations.
This project will measure the properties of panels used to calculate thermal efficiency and will also measure volatile
organic chemical emissions from wood that may be pollutants.
ME09607-09 S. Shaler
Dynamic visualization of strand composite processes
This project involves the application of sophisticated software tools developed for the computer animation and gaming
industry to help create a virtual manufacturing system for wood strand composite materials. Rapid software advances have
enabled computer graphics artists to generate realistic world events which incorporate physics based interactions of the
virtual world elements. Examples abound including interactions of exploding vehicles with other structure and vehicles
(rigid body dynamics), the realistic movement of simulated clothing on virtual characters (cloth dynamics), and the
splashing of water from imaginary horses running into a river (particle dynamics). Such sophisticated physics-based
modeling engines should be able to realistically simulate the dynamic interaction of tens of thousands of wood strands
both with each other and with the relatively simple geometries of conveyor belts, walls, and forming head discs. In the
long-term, such virtual systems will allow manufacturing processes for the production of strand based composites to be
improved on a mill by mill basis, resulting in improved utilization of wood, reduced costs, and improved product quality.
ME09608-08 S. Sader
Satellite remote sensing of forest environments
Changes in forest composition and structure are likely to affect the future stability of Maine’s forest resources and
the sustainability of wildlife species. Given the recent ownership changes in the northern forest and high harvesting
rates reported, there are many important research questions about forest harvest practices, regeneration trends, and
forest sustainability that can be uniquely addressed with time-series satellite and ancillary data in a GIS.
ME09609-06 T. Brann
An integrated project for information collection, processing, and
access in managed ecosystems of Maine
Forested ecosystem data management software has not kept up with the development of new computing environments.
As new computing environments develop many of the old standby ecosystem data management tools are lost. Reducing
the ability of forested ecosystem managers to rapidly record and retrieve vital information. This project will
develop bigger, better, faster, forested ecosystem data management tools, as well as develop an improved training
program to rapidly move those tools into the hands of forested ecosystem managers. Software development will be based
on the latest operating environment in order to take advantage of improved software development suites.
ME09610-07 R. Seymour
Production ecology and silviculture of eastern white pine, Pinus strobus L.
The effect of stand age and silvicultural treatment on leaf area and production efficiency for Pinus strobus
is not well documented. The most appropriate thinning schedule for optimum financial returns of P. strobus
has not been resolved. This study will develop ways to estimate canopy leaf area for managed eastern white pine stands,
and quantify the relationship between leaf area and stemwood growth. Long-term plot remeasurements, growth simulations,
and financial analyses will help resolve optimum thinning practices for eastern white pine.
ME09612-05 Goodell, B.
Wood Degradation Mechanisms and Pressure Infusion Wood Composites Fabrication
We need to better understand wood degradation processes both to stop decay as well as to examine new bioprocessing
methods for the production of new products from woody biomass. In addition we need to develop new methods to use wood
in structural applications by combining wood with other materials to make strong light-weight hybrid composite materials.
This project focuses both on the understanding of the complex biochemistry of wood degradation mechanism that may lead
to discovery of better ways to protect wood and alternately to produce new products from wood biomass. In addition this
research will explore the ComPRIS process, a new method for the production of hybrid wood and FRP products that have
greater strength than conventional wood composite materials.
ME09613-05 J. Daigle
Public use of private lands for recreation: assessing attitudes, values, and perceptions of the visitor and the
private landowner
Outdoor recreation is very important to the region's residents, visitors, and tourism industry. Yet private landowners
may incur increasing costs, property damage, irresponsible user behavior, liability, and loss of privacy by allowing
the public to use their lands for recreation, or may simply dislike selected types of recreation. Results of the
proposed research will delineate more clearly the conflicts that private landowners perceive with certain forest-based
recreation, especially those behaviors associated with wildlife harvest opportunities as well as certain motorized
activities involving all-terrain-vehicles (ATVs). The study will document the perceived benefits and costs associated
with providing public use of private land for recreation and benefits sought from private landownership, the types
of benefits realized, and the impact of any discrepancy between the two in relation to recreation behaviors. In addition,
the role of social values and interpersonal conflict will be elucidated. The proposed research will document the
relation between social values and interpersonal conflict with specific types of recreation behavior. Attitudes about
certain recreation user groups will help predict landowner behaviors of restricting use that will in turn contribute
to regional planning of outdoor, forest-based recreation and tourism strategy goals.
ME09615-08 D. Gardner
Micro- and nanocellulose fiber filled engineering thermoplastic composites
Evaluating the application of micro- and nanoscale cellulose in polymer composite materials. The overall goal of
the research is to develop pilot-scale processing technology to utilize micro- and nanocellulose fibers in engineering
thermoplastic composites.
ME09616-08 J. Wilson
Comparing future forest scenarios in Maine
The impact of many factors influencing the character and quality of Maine's future forests is not clear. Through
comparisons of future landscape simulations negative consequences associated with alternative management practices
and approaches can be predicted and potentially mitigated in the future.
ME09620-06 G. Wiersma, I. Fernandez
Long term environmental monitoring on the Bear Brook Watershed in Maine study area
The continued dependence of the US on fossil energy sources results in continuing long term atmospheric pollution
from combustion of fossil fuels of all kinds. To determine the effect of acid deposition on northern forests.
ME09630-07 M. Greenwood, M. Day
Identifying the critical life cycle stages that determine the abundance of red spruce and balsam fir
The trees of the Acadian Forest, as long-lived woody perennials, undergo a series of life stages beginning with
tiny seedlings striving to compete successfully for light and nutrients with other plants and ending with large,
dominant individuals that must produce seed for the next generations. The trees must adapt to environmental variation
encountered between successive growing seasons and intervening dormant periods during these life stages and all those
in between. This study will provide important and substantial insight into the early dynamics of spruce-fir regeneration,
which has strong potential for direct application to silvicultural practices in the Northern Forest.
ME09632-08 W. Livingston
Managing tree health affected by new stresses
Forest tree species are dealing with stresses with which they have not evolved with, and these new stresses from
exotic pests and climatic changes will impact the future distribution of the species. However, the extent and the
severity of the impacts from the new stresses are unknown and will likely vary across the range of the species.
This project will model hemlock susceptibility to hemlock woolly adelgid and drought, attempt to apply the modeled
relationships to the landscape scale, and provide a tool for sound management decisions dealing with hemlock threats
(exotic pest infestation and climate change).
ME09634-09 A. White
Disturbance ecology of forested ecosystems
Forests around the world are subject to disturbances, which can alter the composition, structure, and function
of these ecosystems. Disturbances vary in their causes, sizes, frequencies, magnitudes, etc. Sometimes the
disturbances are long-term components of the ecosystem whereas others, such as the introduction of an exotic
species, are new to the ecosystem. Similarly, the agent of disturbance may have been associated with a forest
type for millennia but now behaves differently. For example, in some forests, fires may have historically been
of high frequency and low intensity but now are occurring at lower frequencies and higher intensities due to
factors such as buildup of fuel loads due to climate change and fire suppression. Thus, to understand how forests
attained their attributes requires an understanding of their disturbance history. Although hotly debated, that
history may also help predict how forests will change in response to future disturbances and thus serves as one of
the fundamental components of some management activities. In conservation, for example, the minimum or optimum size
of an ecological reserve may be based in part on the scale of potential disturbances and what size the reserve needs
to be to allow natural disturbances to occur without threatening its integrity. In forestry, one approach to management
is commonly referred to as ?ecological forestry?. Its premise is that forests (or, more accurately, their species) are
best adapted to the historical range of disturbances that they have experienced. Thus, in this context, silvicultural
prescriptions should mimic natural disturbances in terms of the size of openings created by harvesting, the frequency
of entry into stands, the nature of ecological legacies, etc. As with any form of history, our understanding of the
history of disturbances is incomplete and is based on data gathered by several complementary techniques, each of which
has its own strengths and limitations. This project is based primarily on tree-ring data, whose sequences of radial
growth can yield information on when disturbances occurred and the amount of area affected. We have successfully used
these types of data to determine the disturbance histories of old-growth forests in northern Maine and will use
similar techniques to explore pine and hemlock stands more common to the area south of our previous study sites.
Our previous and ongoing projects are using a) land survey data that yield disturbance information on a larger area
(in this case, northern Maine) but with less spatial resolution and b) palynology data (pollen and charcoal in sediment
cores) that extend the time scale of our understanding but with less temporal resolution. The end result will be a
picture of the disturbance history of northern Maine spanning several hundred years or more. Finally, concurrent with
the history of disturbances we will initiate research on the relationships between tree rings and climate (weather
station data). Although dendroclimatology is a well-established field, our challenge will be to separate disturbance
and weather information from the same source ? tree rings.
ME09638-06 J. Jagels, M. Day
Potential latitudinal shifts in conifer distributions as influenced by light
How will conifers adapt to higher latitudes with global climate change. This project will examine the unique
adaptabilities of six conifers to polar light regimes.
ME09645-06 R. Wagner
Forest Ecosystem Research Program (FERP): Gap expansion and spatial hypotheses
Controversy about clearcutting and other harvest methods in Northeastern forests has generated strong interest
in developing new harvesting strategies based on patterns of natural disturbance. This project is testing the
feasibility and documenting the ecological effects of expanding-gap silvicultural systems that are based on patterns
of natural disturbance in the Acadian forest.
ME09804-08 J. Benjamin
Investigation of efficiency, recovery, and quality in Maine's forest product supply chain
Opportunities exist to increase efficiencies and improve product recovery in two areas of the forest product
supply chain: biomass harvesting systems and white pine log quality. The emerging forest bioproducts industry
in Maine is in need of low cost forest biomass as a feedstock for higher value products. White pine has long
been recognized as a signature commercial species in Maine, but the challenge facing many sawmills today is how
to increase product recovery with respect to quality. This project is to examine biomass harvest systems that
meet silvicultural objectives and increase product recovery and to assess white pine lumber grade recovery with
respect to knots and lumber quality.
ME09805-08 R. Lilieholm
Impact of changing land use and ownership on Maine's forest-based economy
Maine’s forests are experiencing rapid change in ownership and land use status as parcels are fragmented and
residential development displaces tradition production-oriented land uses. Maine’s forestlands are fundamental
to the health and economic viability of the State’s forest-based economic sectors, and also play a key role in
the quality of life for many residents and visitors. The alternative future development scenarios created under
this project will provide Maine businesses, residents, and planners with a range of future development choices.
By spatially predicting the trend of likely development, communities can proactively plan their futures to ensure
public health, safety and welfare; and maintain or enhance attributes important to community quality of life. Moreover,
the process to be developed can be used as a decision support system, where communities or local interest groups can
develop and assess various future growth scenarios based on collective values and views toward development. Examples
include efforts to protect prime forest and agricultural lands, maintain community health via the safeguarding of
aquifer recharge zones, and protect ecologically important open spaces.
