Lakehead University Forestry Association - Yearbook (Thunder Bay, Ontario Canada)

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Forestry Symposium Production Potentiol and Management of Under Utilized Species The Lakehead Universtiy Forestry Association held its fourth annual symposium on Saturday March 4th. This year ' s topic Production Potential and Management of Under Utilized Species , turned out to be more or less a symposium on poplar, proving to be very interesting and informative to say the least. The first speaker was Mr. J. McLaughlin from Morbark In- dustries. Mr. McLaughlin dis- cussed the Total Chip Con- cept of harvesting hardwoods, which chips the entire tree using a portable debarker-chipper. With the aid of a movie, Mr. McLaughlin showed the oper- ation of the Morbark Super Beaver experimental hardwood plots in May of 1970 in Minne- sota using the total chip con- cept. The cost analysis from the experiment showed an initial equipment cost of $473,650 in- cluding the Super Beaver, a Drott feller buncher, two grap- ple skidders, portable sorting screen and maintenance over a five year period. In the same period realizing 300 tons per day production (400 tons maximum) the cost per ton of chips would be $4.79 delivered to the mill stressing the idea that greater utilization can lower the cost of harvesting. Mr. Art Ennis of Boise Cas- cade proved to be a good follow- up to Mr. McLaughlin. Mr. Ennis talked about a tree length chip operation used by Boise Cas- cade, International Falls, Minn. He stressed the fact that their particular operation was under very specific conditions. Three seperate contracts have been let out for different aspects of the production. One contractor is responsible for cutting and limb- ing the trees and delivering them to the chipping site in time for the wood to cure before it is chipped. This contract made up one-third of the total cost of the chips. The second contractor is responsible for the running of the 2250 Morbark Chipper and Debarker purchased by Boise Cascade in 1968, and loading the chips into vans. Mr. Ennis stated that the 2250 was 93% oper- ational compared to down time, but that the maintenance crew worked after hours to keep the machine in top running order. Production was 18,000 cords per year per shift. (This portion incurred 16% of the cost. I The third contract was for hauling the chips from the site to the mill using eight, forty foot com- pany owned vans with an extra one at the chipper, and four leased tractor units. The average haul was 80 miles with a load of 10—12 cords depending on moisture content. Loading time is approximately one hour. Twenty-seven percent of the total chip cost occurs here. Mr. Ennis suggested that se- parate contracts and a piecework pay system got everyone work- ing as a team and the result was economically better than other sources of chips. Mr. Ennis con- cluded his talk by stating that presently 61% of the wood re- quired in Minnesota is filled by chips and that this could rise to 83% in the future and that Boise Cascade would probably pur- chase another chipping machine. Dr. F. Bender, formerly of the Federal Research Lab in Ottawa was the next speaker. Dr. Bender was involved in a programme to study the use of wood sawdust and chips as a food stuff for cattle and other animals with four-part stomachs. He stated that sawdust has been used as a bulk food from time immemorial but its low digesti- bility in untreated form pre- vented its use as a continuous diet. Dr. Bender found through his experiments that poplar had the best untreated digestibility (15%l of the woods he tested. He stated that 40% digestibility was required to sustain stock and that 45% enabled daily wight gain. By subjecting the sawdust or chips of poplar to 10—15 atmosphere pressure of steam, acetic acid is produced and bods between cellulose and lignin place the digestibility of poplar between 48 and 52 per cent. Then to produce a nitro- genous compound equalling pro- tein, a small amount of am- monia is passed over the chips and the ammonia reacts with the acetic acid to form the desired compound. Dr. Bender suggested we refer to his papers of April and Sept. 1970 to find out the results of his experiments in greater detail The next speaker Mr. A. Sudbury spoke on potential do mestic and international markets for Canadian wood based panels. He stated that Canada was pre- sently in production capacity of wood based panels. Mr. Sudbury noted that a 20$ preventative tariff on Canadian plywood ex- ports allows the U.S.A. to im- port 87% of its hardwood plywood from Asia at cheaper cost. The U.S.A. industrial plywood market now being fil- led by Finland and Japan could be partly filled by Canadian products through better market- ing techniques which stress the quality and competitive prices of Canadian goods. Mr. Sudbury suggested we could obtain a greater part of the European market for panels by demonstrating the variability and versatility of such products to potential buyers. He com- pleted his talk by stating Canada ' s 1971 export of wood based panels totalled $34,000,000 and the chance of new markets looks good. The last speaker was Dr. Z. Zuffa from the Lands Forests Research centre at Maple, On- tario. Dr. Zuffa has done much research into the genetic im- provement of poplars especially in hybrid production. He stated that an increase in the poplar cut was eminent as the softwood cut approaches the allowable. He pointed out the advantages of poplar as, a short rotation spe- cies, ability to grow on a variety of sites and reaction to improved conditions, and its use as timber and other products, and the ease of genetic improvement. Mr. Zuffa displayed charts showing improved hybrid pop- lars obtaining three times the diameter, three to five times the heigh t and two to four times the mean annual increment over natural poplar stands on similar sites. The hybrid P. grandidenta x P. alba at Maple grows more that 1 in DBH per year and at 12 years is 14 in diameter. Zuffa talked about 20-25 year rotations for veneer with 16-18 DBH and 80 ' tall trees, and 5—10 year rotations for pulp wood. Mr. Zuffa gave a most in- formative and interesting talk with only three days notice after one of the speakers cancelled in the week of the Symposium. He also displayed slides and disks of some of his experiment. Following a general question period, the over 200 attending the day ' s proceedings adjourned to the main cafeteria for a bar and dinner. Following dinner Mr. Adams spoke as a devoted environ- mentalist compared the world to the commons area in the Feudal system of agriculture. In the world commons Mr. Adams gave N. America four choices: first, to increase our birth rate three times and catch up on the breeding race of numbers; se- cond, to cruise along on our present haphazard course on a world scene; third, to conquer the world, ruling to our ad- vantage; or fourth, help to set up a workable world government to enforce the limited use of world resources, to control world population and maintain a world wide living standard. Because the fourth choice was the only fea- sible one but would be the most difficult to form, perhaps we should think of these goals in regional development schemes. All in all. this year ' s Sym- posium was a great success and supported from outside the Uni- versity proper was tremendous. Congratulations to Gary McKellar, chairman, and his committee for a job well done.

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THE MAKEUP YEAR (To be sung to the tune of Casey Jones Steamin and a Rollin ) Come all ye Foresters if you want to hear, A short story on the makeup year, From Forest Tech I we advanced with pride, 20 men did and 40 men died. To theory and books we advanced with greed, Only to better ourselves, take heed, The schedule scrambled, the english was rough, Cause a rose is Rosa blanda to a Forester tough. The course that we took in the Calculus line, Kept us a-working on overtime, But with a pretty little Prof - ette explaining all the time, We discovered the mathematics of a curved line. Against the wishes of the A. M.S. , We cal-cul-ated the strain and stress, Of snow for a sculpture that was to be the best, But somehow it never beat the weather test. Gone are the days of the field survey. Looking back at those days they seem like play. But growing in experience this I know, That our education won ' t melt away with the snow. G. Broom, Degree I