Research Projects for 2007
ME09603-07 Rice, R.
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.
ME09607-03 Shaler, S.
Thick Structural Composites from Northeastern Species
The use of low grade hardwood resource for a composite material is, in my opinion, an excellent opportunity for value-added products. The use of wood for panel products such as Oriented Strand Board (OSB) has been part of the wood products industry in the State of Maine for over 20 years. Thick structural wood composites represent just such an alternative opportunity. The evaluation of the outcomes from the research will come from manufacturing interest. Additionally, a richer market mix for the wood may present forest management opportunities.
ME09608-01 Sader, S.
Satellite remote sensing of forest environments
Forest type mapping and regeneration assessments pose greater challenges in Maine than in most other states in the U.S. Deforestation rates in Central America are among the highest in the world. Government agencies and international donors need effective methods to monitor forest change and understand the impact of their rural development programs on sustainable forest initiatives. The remote sensing research products support forest inventory and monitoring over large regions and in a cost-effective manner.
ME09609-06 Brann, T.
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 Seymour, R.
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 Daigle, J.
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.
ME09615-03 Gardner, D.
Improved Adhesive Application System For Wood Strand-Based Composites
The principal objective of this proposal is to explore paths for improved safety, resin efficiency and board performance through better understanding of alternative methods and quantification of key parameters of adhesive atomization. To achieve the goal a research program is proposed in which correlation between methods of resin atomization (spinning disc and ultrasonic), droplet distribution, resin content and board properties will be investigated.
ME09616-02 Wilson, J.
Comparing alternative approaches to landscape management in Maine
Increasingly, forest managers in Maine have to incorporate more, and more complex, objectives into their planning considerations. This project introduces and adapts tools and approaches that are designed to facilitate complex forest management to the northeast.
ME09620-06 Wiersma, G.
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 Greenwood, M.
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.
ME09631-03 Carter, K.
Evaluating white pine families and hybrids for insect and disease resistance
Eastern white pine in Maine suffers severe quality damage from the white pine weevil, which causes forked stems and deformed trees. Some trial plantings of western white pine indicate that the western species, and possibly also hybrids between eastern and western white pine, are resistant to weevil attack. This project will evaluate existing Maine plantations of western white pine and create new families for further testing, using the best-growing western white pine parents and including hybrid crosses with eastern white pine.
ME09632-03 Livingston, W.
Tree Health and Changing Forests
A. How much white pine in southern Maine is at risk to white pine decline? B. Are pest-susceptible white spruce forests an artifact of European settlement and, therefore, not a natural component of the island forests? A. The project will provide an estimate as to how much white pine is at risk to white pine decline. B. The project will provide scientific information on how to improve the health and natural condition of island forests.
ME09634-02 White, A.
Disturbance Ecology of Northeastern Forests
Knowledge of a forest's disturbance history is required to understand its composition, structure, and function. This project examines the role of disturbances in shaping presettlement and old-growth forests in the Northeast, with a focus on northern Maine.
ME09638-06 Jagels, R.
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 Wagner, R.
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.
