SURPRISE, SURPRISE! A PRO GROWTH, BUSINESS FRIENDLY GOVERNMENT AGENCY

USDA FOREST PRODUCTS LABORATORY

FPL CENTENNIAL RESEARCH CENTER

STRESS TESTING LAB

PRODUCT RESEARCH LAB

CLIMATE CONTROL ROOM

 Sunday,  9:00 AM.  44 degrees F, wind westerly, calm to very light.  The sky is cloudy and overcast and there is light fog over the Islands.  It rained a bit last night and the humidity is 96%.  The foggy  dampness muffles everything, the "zeet, zeet" of a chickadee the only sound as we stood on the porch considering our prospects for the day.
   More on my visit to the Forest Service Forest Products Laboratory on Friday: the FPL is located on the University of Wisconsin Madison campus.  It was established in 1910, its original mission being to research wood preservatives for railroad ties, which was a huge concern a century ago as railroads expanded across the nation, requiring increasingly great amounts of hardwood timber  for new construction and replacement of deteriorating ties.
  From that rather inauspicious beginning it has grown into a world-class scientific institution whose research mission is to promote healthy forests and forest based economies by developing efficient, sustainable uses for the wood resources of the nation.
  The Urban Forestry Council toured the FPL's  new Centennial Research Center, a state-of-the-art facility which is currently researching underutilized woody biomass (uses for waste wood from logging and manufacturing), nanotechnology (uses for wood fibers at the microscopic level), biobased energy, composites using wood, and wood structure technology.  Much of the research is done in  partnership with the wood products industry, with the intent of enhancing the economy of the states and the nation in the vital area of forestry.  Wisconsin's economy, and that of many of the states, is heavily dependent upon forestry and forest based businesses, and the research done at the FPL is crucial to advancing this important economic base.
   We toured three huge research areas of the new Centennial Research Center.  The enormous stress testing lab tests the strength of laminate beams and other structural wood components.  While we were there they were shooting projectiles at wood members of a home tornado shelter currently being designed by one of the 60 FPL scientists.  Chemical analysis of wood fibers was being done in the products research lab, where many separate products are being researched, most in cooperation with business corporations.  Windows, siding, shingles and other structural components and products are tested in a controlled climate chamber that can duplicate almost any weather condition.
   The attitude of many governmental agencies has been, for years now, decidedly anti-business and anti-human progress, and it is refreshing to me to see a government agency that is working with industry and has a pro-growth, sustainable use, conservation oriented philosophy and mission.