12:09 a.m.
Dear IUFRO Meliaceae E-list:
IUFRO Spotlight #52 may be of interest. Other Spotlights can be found at:
http://www.iufro.org/media/iufro-spotlights/
Regards,
Sheila Ward
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: IUFRO Headquarters <office(a)iufro.org>
Date: Tue, Aug 29, 2017 at 12:34 PM
Subject: IUFRO Anniversary Congress Spotlight #52: Building on tradition to
plan for the future of forests
To: Dear IUFRO Officeholder <mahoganyforthefuture(a)gmail.com>
[image: IUFRO Spotlight]
IUFRO Anniversary Congress Spotlight #52: Building on tradition to plan
for the future of forests
*The 125th Anniversary Congress on 18-22 September 2017 in Freiburg,
Germany, will offer a wide selection of scientific sessions highlighting
innovative research and interdisciplinary research approaches of relevance
to forests, and focus on the transfer of scientific knowledge on critical
global forest-related challenges to national and international political
agendas. In a series of "Congress Spotlight" articles individual sessions
shall be showcased to give a foretaste of the richness and scope of
research findings that will be presented at the Congress. Keep updated at:
http://iufro2017.com/ <http://iufro2017.com/>*
*Building on tradition to plan for the future of forests*
PDF for download
<https://www.iufro.org/download/file/27186/6530/anniversary-congress-spotlight52-forest-classic-th3_pdf/>
<http://www.iufro.org/index.php?eID=tx_cms_showpic&file=18564&md5=9989a7394cfb12915280f69052669187f8bd47f1¶meters%5B0%5D=YTo0OntzOjU6IndpZHRoIjtzOjQ6IjgwMG0iO3M6NjoiaGVpZ2h0IjtzOjQ6IjYw¶meters%5B1%5D=MG0iO3M6NzoiYm9keVRhZyI7czoyMjoiPGJvZHkgYmdjb2xvcj0iYmxhY2siPiI7¶meters%5B2%5D=czo0OiJ3cmFwIjtzOjM3OiI8YSBocmVmPSJqYXZhc2NyaXB0OmNsb3NlKCk7Ij4g¶meters%5B3%5D=fCA8L2E%2BIjt9>
*A 3D machine vision technology developed to detect and measure tree
characteristics real-time during thinning operations. (Credit: Lucas Wells,
Oregon State University)*
"We're trying to avoid throwing the baby out with the bathwater," said Dr.
Jens Peter Skovsgaard of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in
Alnarp, Sweden.
He was speaking about forestry operations and research and how change can
be evolutionary rather than revolutionary. Dr. Skovsgaard is coordinator of
a session entitled: *Forestry "Classic" for the Future*, at the IUFRO 125th
Anniversary Congress in Freiburg, Germany in September.
"We want to re-examine the traditional role and practice of forestry from
the perspectives of modern engineering technology and current environmental
and social demands on forests and forest products," said Dr. Woodam Chung,
Department of Forest Engineering, Management and Resources at Oregon State
University, USA. Dr. Chung will moderate the "Classic" session at the
IUFRO Congress.
To that end, the session will discuss contemporary and future-oriented
research on the use of "classic" forest management practices aimed at
developing new, modern aspects of traditional production forestry.
<http://www.iufro.org/index.php?eID=tx_cms_showpic&file=18565&md5=bc6883e14872a3bd51e0a822b6f14cec57853c92¶meters%5B0%5D=YTo0OntzOjU6IndpZHRoIjtzOjQ6IjgwMG0iO3M6NjoiaGVpZ2h0IjtzOjQ6IjYw¶meters%5B1%5D=MG0iO3M6NzoiYm9keVRhZyI7czoyMjoiPGJvZHkgYmdjb2xvcj0iYmxhY2siPiI7¶meters%5B2%5D=czo0OiJ3cmFwIjtzOjM3OiI8YSBocmVmPSJqYXZhc2NyaXB0OmNsb3NlKCk7Ij4g¶meters%5B3%5D=fCA8L2E%2BIjt9>
*Increment "autograph" by J. Friedrich, Austria, 1905.*
"We learn from past forest practices, but also plan for the future while
focusing on the present," said Dr. Chung. "It is important to share and
learn the state-of-the-art technologies in each discipline in forestry and
apply them across all forestry activities – from silviculture and genetics
to forest harvesting and products – to fully realize the benefits of new
technologies."
In addition to focusing on tangible classic products such as wood, the
session will also look at potentially new or future-oriented products –
bioenergy and bio-based products such as biofuels, ethanol, bio-based
adhesives, etc. – and products for human health promotion, food production
and pharmaceutical drugs.
Both scientists believe classic practices must continue to change.
As an example of how a practice might change, Dr. Chung noted that
potential soil and water damages from ground-based forest equipment are big
environmental concerns. Currently, to address those concerns, riparian
management areas are set aside and-or timber harvesting is restricted.
"However," he said, "recent development of sensors and remote sensing
technologies allow soil property and conditions to be measured at a high
spatial resolution and incorporated into skid trail network planning,
allowing machine paths to be avoided or reduced in wet, unstable or erosion
prone areas."
"Most operational forestry activities are carried out to provide economic
revenue, but it is also a basic principle of sustainable forest management
to safeguard the forest for future generations," said Dr. Skovsgaard. "For
this reason, forestry often considers conversion or transformation or
adaptation of past or current silvicultural practices towards something
‘better', something we believe will be better tailored towards future
demands, future climatic conditions, etc."
But, Dr. Skovsgaard said, new methods and technologies are generally being
imported to forestry rather than developed directly for forestry. This
means they often need to be adapted and "this process is often limited by
the small scale– when compared to other industries or professions – of
forestry, because it does not pay, or because we don't have enough volume
to fully implement new methods."
"We should be researching and developing our own tools, our own solutions,"
he said. "Right now, in many cases forestry can't afford the cost of
adaptation."
As an example, he noted that eye operations are being performed using laser
technology. "If or when laser technology is modified so that we can use the
technology to prune branches on future crop trees, it could greatly lower
production costs. But at this time, it is prohibitively expensive to adapt
laser technologies for this purpose," he said.
He suggested two possible solutions to this issue: if large forest
companies took on the responsibility for developing new technologies and
making them available to smaller forests owners at reasonable cost; and-or
if small-scale innovation companies or inventors did the development,
provided their idea or product could be viably commercialized.
But the main thing, Dr. Skovsgaard reiterated, is to get people thinking
about how existing operational forest-related techniques, approaches and
philosophies might be tweaked rather than jettisoned, to better serve
future forest needs.
Dr. Chung added: "Unique and different forest practices were developed in
different regions based on their traditions, culture and needs. Although we
can learn tremendously from other regions, sharing knowledge and experience
across the globe is somewhat limited. The role of IUFRO and this IUFRO
Congress address that very challenge."
*________________________________*
*The September 18-22 Congress in Freiburg will celebrate IUFRO's 125th
anniversary. Founded in 1892 in Eberswalde Germany, IUFRO has grown to
unite more than 15,000 scientists (who cooperate in IUFRO on a voluntary
basis) in almost 700 member organizations in more than 120 countries.IUFRO
promotes global cooperation in forest-related research and enhances the
understanding of the ecological, economic and social aspects of forests and
trees. It disseminates scientific knowledge to stakeholders and
decision-makers and contributes to forest policy and on-the-ground forest
management.About 2000 scientists from 89 countries are expected to attend
the Congress. The Forestry "Classic" session in Freiburg will be one of
172 scientific sessions that will cover a wide array of topics dealing with
various aspects of forest research.See you at the IUFRO 125th Anniversary
Congress in Freiburg, Germany!Look out for #IUFRO2017
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/iufro2017?f=tweets&vertical=default&src=hash>
on Twitter and @iufro2017 <https://www.facebook.com/iufro2017> on Facebook!*
*________________________________*
The International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) is the
only worldwide organization devoted to forest research and related
sciences. Its members are research institutions, universities, and
individual scientists as well as decision-making authorities and other
stakeholders with a focus on forests and trees.
Visit: http://www.iufro.org/
*________________________________*
*IUFRO 125th Anniversary Congress Spotlight #52, published in August 2017by
IUFRO Headquarters, Vienna, Austria.Available for download at:
**http://www.iufro.org/media/iufro-spotlights/
<http://www.iufro.org/media/iufro-spotlights/>*
*Contact the editor at office(at)iufro.org <office(a)iufro.org> or visit
http://www.iufro.org/ <http://www.iufro.org/index.php?id=104>*
If you do not wish to receive *IUFRO Spotlight* publications, please email
us at: office(at)iufro.org <office(a)iufro.org>
*Imprint: http://www.iufro.org/legal/#c18944
<http://www.iufro.org/legal/#c18944>*
