F A C U L T Y O F F O R E S T R Y • N E W S L E T T E R • T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F B R I T I S H C O L U M B I A Volume 5 No. 2 September 1994 From the Dean's Desk T H E quest ion deans hear mos t f re- quently this time of year is "How is enrolment?" Starting now, each Fall issue of Branch Lines will answer this stand- ing question (see page 6). Once again, s tudent d e m a n d has e x c e e d e d the Faculty's capacity. Our formal enrolment quo tas l imi ted the n u m b e r of new students, and entry grade-point averages (GPAs) hit new records. Total under- graduate enrolment in the Faculty this year is 452 compared with 400 last year, and graduate enrolment has risen from 171 to 185. This growth of student num- bers creates several dilemmas for us. The first is having adequate resources to p rov ide the kind of h igh-qua l i ty education that distinguishes the Univer- sity of British Columbia. To help relieve the cont inued pressure on the funds we receive from the provincial govern- ment, we have initiated a new faculty development program (Branch Lines Volume 5 No. 1, March 1994). Even in its early stages, the support for the Faculty has been diverse and grat i fy- ing. Some examples include: • The Backman Award for undergraduate students in Natural Resource Conser- vation (two $1,000 awards each year for the next five years), • The Edward W. Basse t t G r a d u a t e Scholarship for research in reforesta- tion (an endowment providing $3,000 each year), • The Class of 1993 "Class Act" pledge of $4,000 over the next three years, • The r ecen t A l u m n i T e l e t h o n that resulted in close to 70% participation from those alumni called and raised over $14,000 in pledges enabling us to fully endow the Brenda Hanson Memorial Scholarship, • ABCPF First Nations Student Award ($500 each year for the next three years), • Pac i f i c Regenera t ion Techno log ies Inc. Scholarship in Silviculture ($1,000 each year for two years). In addition, Professor Gene Namkoong will donate over $100,000 of his Marcus Wal lenberg Prize to endow graduate fel lowships; in a few weeks we will announce other par t ic ipa t ion in this unique and most generous gift. In the near fu ture , we expec t to announce several other significant gifts related to our development priorities — student support, buildings, and endowment to support faculty positions. The Faculty's second dilemma is that our entry GPA has risen to the point that it now excludes many people who would be excellent professionals in the diverse areas of forest conservat ion, management , products or manufactur- ing processes. As a result, we decided to develop new admissions procedures to consider factors other than GPA alone. These might inc lude an a d m i s s i o n s essay, work experience or interviews with the faculty, an admissions officer or our alumni. We plan to have these new procedures in place this Spring and use them for the students admitted in 1995/96. The third is the need to restructure our undergraduate forestry programs. Not only is student interest in the field at an all-time high, but there are also forestry programs available at other locations in the province. What are the distinctive features of forestry education at UBC? Over the next few months we plan to answer this question as the initial step for re-examining the structure of our p ro fe s s iona l fo r e s t ry cur r i cu la . Our assessment will follow much of the same survey and focus group proce- dures so succes s fu l l y used by the Department of Wood Science to develop a new undergraduate program in advanced wood processing (see Value-added Wood Products Manufacturing story, page 6). Although we will be contacting many of you during the next few months to help us examine our forestry programs, I would welcome any thoughts you might have on the subject right now. You can reach me in person, by letter, fax (604) 822-8645, « (604) 822-2467, or by e-mail binkley® unixg.uhc.ca. Clark S. Binkley C ^ Upcoming Careers Evening Plann ing is underway for the 3rd Annual Careers Evening for forestry under- graduate students. This event, held for the past 2 years, continues to elicit over- whe lming ly pos i t ive response from both students and alumni. Last fall 160 students and 30 alumni attended and socialized through a pizza dinner and excellent presentations by professionals working in different areas of forestry. This year's plans include efforts to in- volve more alumni and strengthen the communication between foresters and s tudents . The event is planned for Thursday, October 27. Please mark this date in your calendar and plan to attend! Invitations will be mailed out shortly. Further information can be obtained from Donna Goss, Coordinator of Student Services at (604) 822-3547 or fax (604) 822-8645. \ J Wood Science Department RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT Wood Preservation - Where are we heading? PCP concentration in aqueous phase (ppm) Time (hours) Degradation of PCP from pole material by Flavobacterium sp. in liquid culture suspensions. LIKE all forest product industries, the wood preserving industry is striving to ensure its continued importance in the changing world of wood use. The pres- sures on die "old growth" forests much of which is western red cedar or Douglas- fir require the Canadian consumer to look to other non-durable wood species for Uieir needs. Fortunately, by pressure treat- ing these non durable timbers with appro- priate preservatives, they will provide a service life often two or three times that of the durable softwoods. Chromated- copper-arsenate (CCA) has been widely used around the world for decades and experience has shown it can safely pro- vide very long service lives. However, be- cause of Canada's cold winter climate, the time required for this preservative to fix to the wood can sometimes be several weeks. This fixation step is important as it ensures that die CCA will not leach from the wood in service. The UDC Forestry Faculty's NSERC/Industry Chair in Wood Preservation has researched the chemistry of this process to confirm that steam treatments used by industry to accelerate die fixation of CCA do not change die fixation chemistry. This was demonstrated using sophisticated analytical techniques such as electron spin resonance and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Other benefits of this research include a better understanding of how CCA-treatment enhances die water repellency of wood and extends die life of surface finishes applied to wood. Although CCA has become die indus- try's mainstay, for the protection of sawn wood used by the consumer, research DEPARTMENT NEWS D r . Paul Steiner and Dr. Chunping Dai (Ph.D., UBC 1994) received the George G. Marra Award of Excellence First I'lace Award for research and writing for dieir paper "Compression behaviour of ran- domly formed wood flake mats" publish- ed in Wood and Fiber Science (Vol. 25). continues on alternative preservative systems. Three such systems have been introduced in Nordi America — all of which contain copper dissolved in either ammonium hydroxide or an amine solvent. Recent research by the Chair has shown that the copper component found in such preservatives as ammoniacal copper quat (ACQ), ammoniacal copper citrate (AmCC) and copper azole (an amine coppcr formulation), binds to the lignin in die wood. Using model compounds it has been possible to demonstrate that copper-ammonia/amine complexes are formed in the wood and that dieir for- mation has an important inf luence on preservative performance. Research continues to identify factors which affect die fixation chemistry. The recycling of wood recovered from service will become increasingly important Dr. P. Steiner and Dr. D. Plackett (Forintek Canada Corp.) are co-organizers of die upcoming Pacific Rim Bio-Based Composites Symposium to be held in Vancouver November 6-9, 1994. Dr. Frank Lam attended and presented an invited paper at the Pacific Timber Engineering Conference in Brisbane, Australia, July 11-15, 1994. Dr. Edserd deJong from Holland has in Canada. At UBC, timber salvaged from buildings scheduled for replace- ment is recovered and, where possible, re-used during future construction. When the wood removed from service has been preservative treated it may be neces- sary, depending upon die future use of the wood, to remove the preservative prior to recycling die timber. Recently, die first phase of a project aimed at clean- ing pentachloroplienol-treated wood was completed in the laboratory and several options for chemical and biolo- gical remediation were identified. The potential for bioremediating other con- taminated wood waste is now being explored, together with a technique for rapidly screening wood waste to fingerprint the contaminants present. Further information is available from Dr. John N.R. Ruddickat (604) 822-3736. • joined the Forest Products Biotechnology group as a post-doctoral research fellow. Dr. Colette Breuil organized a con- tributed session on the biology and control of wood staining fungi at die 5di International Mycological Congress held at UBC on August 14-21, 1994. Forest Products Biotechnology graduate students also presented poster sessions at die Congress. • Branch Lines 2 Forest Sciences Department RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT Evolutionary Breeding ONGOING research on evolutionary breeding at the Department of Forest Sciences has resulted in a breeding strategy that will increase productivity and advance the evolutionary potential of forests. This program is being intro- duced into the breeding program of the province where the objective is to increase the useful variation and to maximize the adaptability of the system for future contingencies. Since the gene- tic resource is in a dynamic state which is continual ly changing, the present state of our forests and genes is consi- dered to be an initial condition toward achieving this objective, rather than a final goal. The immediate objective then is to ensure that the next evolutionary step will enable trees to adapt at least as well in the future as they have thus far. Rather than depend on any single population to be precisely adapted to the needs of the next generation, the average value or average fitness for the whole species is better ensured by breeding several populations, each selected for different economic or ecolo- gical conditions. The figure displays the relationship between single generation (short-term) breeding populations and an evolutionary (long-term) breeding program. Even when the predictability of future needs is poor, we can improve the expcct- DEPARTMENT NEWS A recent workshop bringing together GVRD watershed managers and graduate students working in the watersheds, included Vanessa Craig, Lori Daniels, Gordon Kayahara, and Dr. Jaroslav Dobry. Dr. Jaroslav Dobry and Lori Daniels participated in the International Confer- ence on Tree Rings, Environment, and Humanity on May 17-21 in Tucson, Arizona. ed value by widening the patterns of divergence. This allows effective manage- ment of populations, with greater genetic variation and different trait combina- tions than presently exist. We have also shown that a more diverse collection of genes will be contained somewhere in the set of populations and results in a probability of saving rare but unknown Dr. Karel Klinka, Dr. Jaroslav Dobry, Gordon Kayahara and Pal Varga parti- cipated in "Global to Local - Ecological Land Classification," on August 15-17 in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Dr. Karen Wiebe, NSERC/Kil lam Post-doctoral Fellow in Forest Sciences was awarded the Governor General 's Medal for best Ph.D. thesis at the University of Saskatchewan at Spring '94 Convocation. genes at least as high as by using a single large population. Also, sets of smaller populations are easier to manage and are more adaptable to local operating constraints than are large populations, and they are easily scaled for different kinds of operations and types of forests. Taking this strategy to another level, a structure of multiple populations is designed in which the present patterns of variation are taken as the initial condition. A new pattern of diversity, based on the previous pattern, is then selected. A progression of changes can then be evolved by considering every subsequent evolutionary step to be both a solution for a predicted condi- tion and an initial condition for the future. This is called a meta-breeding structure. This structure allows foresters to adaptively manage the genetic basis of forests to continually evolve as needs shift, and to increase the range of future conditions that can be accommodated. This system of multiple population breeding tracks changing demands and is termed "Dynamic Gene Conservation." This research can be used in indus- trial applications, where breeding for economic gain can be optimized by using multiple populations, and in conservation, where population diver- gence can be similarly managed. It provides a variable base for continued adaptability in both situations. For further information, please contact Dr. Gene Namkoong at (604) 822-8275 or fax (604) 822-9102.U Dr. John McLean visited and lectured at the Dr. Kearny Junior Secondary School in Fort St. John; Langxiang Forest Bureau, Heilongjiang Province, in the Northeast of the People's Republic of China; and the Northeast Forestry Univer- sity in Harbin. The Centre for Applied Conservation Biology has received a grant of $350,468 from the Envi ronmenta l Innovation Program to develop a public decision support tool for landuse strategies.• Breeding populat ion I Support ive r e s e a r c h genetically improved seeds or plants further improved seeds or plants Long-term evolutionary breeding is the source of short-term breeding populations. Branch Lines 3 Forest Resources Management Department RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT The RAINS Project RAdar Imaging Natural Systems (RAINS) is a study of C-band syn- thetic aperture radar (SAR) data of north Vancouver Island's coniferous rain- forests. The major objective of RAINS is to prove that RADARSAT satellite data can be applied effectively in the inven- tory process of forest monitoring and map update. Co-operators in the study in- clude Western Forest Products Limited, R A D A R S A T In terna t ional , and the Canada Centre for Remote Sensing (CCRS). Monitoring a rain forest with optical data can be a problem. The section of Vancouver Island under investigation has a mean annual precipitation greater than 250 cm, which makes radar an important data source because of its cloud penetration capabilities. During 1993, cloud cover over the northern Vancouver Island precluded imaging by the Landsat satellite. The study area includes, 1) the Brooks Peninsula; 2) the adjacent old-growth forest , selected for preservation by the Old- Growth Strategy Project of the B.C. Ministry of Forests; 3) a second-growth 80 year-old hemlock and cedar forest impacted by atmospheric depositions, and 4) a managed TFL operated by Western Forest Products Ltd. RADARSAT is a Canadian satellite due to be launched in 1995. RAINS is a three-stage project. 1) Airborne SAR data are being used to examine the forests; then 2) the airborne SAR will be used to create RADARSAT-simulation data for similar tests, and 3) the results of the first two stages will be compared to the actual R A D A R S A T data when they become available. On July 28 1993, air- borne, HH polarization, nadir swath, C-band SAR data were acquired over the study area using the CCRS Convair 580 aircraft at 6 km (20,000 ft) altitude. Radar look angles ranged from 35 degrees at the near edge to 65 degrees at the far edge. The slant range resolution ranged from 8.6 m at the near edge to 13.4 m at the far edge. The weather at the time was overcast with low cloud, light fog, and pockets of drizzle which caused traces (< 0.2 mm) of moisture to be noted at 5 weather stations on the TFL. Data analyses are being done in our remote sensing/GIS lab, and results to date are exciting. The figure opposite is a decimated image of a portion of the TFL. Height class differences within the same forest type have been document- ed. Species, age and stocking differ- ences are also evident. Radiometrically enhanced colored images may be viewed upon request. For more information, please contact Dr. Peter Murtha at (604) 822-6452; e-mail murtha@unixg.ubc.ca; fax (604) 822-9106. • C-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image of part of Western Forest Products, Ltd. TFL on northern Vancouver Island, a) Kathy Lake; b) Beaver Lake; c) golf course; d) Misty Lake along Highway 19; e) SCHIRP experimental area. DEPARTMENT NEWS D r . Val LeMay (biometrics/mensuration) and Dr. Jonathan Fannin (transportation/ forest harvesting) have been promoted to the rank of Associate Professor, rind granted tenure. Dr. Peter Pearse presented a paper at an international workshop on forest management in Moscow. Dr. Jonathan Fannin is on a committee reviewing educational needs in geotech- nics and hydrology for the Association of Professional Engineers and Geo- scientists. This relates to needs arising out of the Forest Practices Code, and the potential for development of a limited license to practice in this area. Dr. Fannin is also involved in a university/industry collaborative project with MacMillan Bloedel and Western Forest Products with fieldwork on four sites to design a direct sheerbox for testing soil stability. The aim is to improve techniques for terrain stability assessment.• Branch Lines 4 Faculty News / \ Awards and Special Recognitions New Appointments This summer, three new Assistant Professors were appointed to the Faculty: Dr. Susan Glenn obtained a Ph.D. in Landscape Ecology from the University of Oklahoma in 1990 and worked as a commu- nity ecologist with the Oklahoma Biological Station prior to her appointment at UBC. Dr. Glenn will be teaching an intro- ductory conservation course to third-year students in the new Natural Resource Conservation program. Iler research interests lie in the area of landscape ecology, particularly with natural communities and the movement of species between protected areas. Dr. Glenn can be reached at (604) 822-6624. Dr. Scott Hinch completed a Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of Toronto in 1991 and has been working with the Westwater Research Centre at UBC for the past three years. Dr. H i n d i ' s area of research interest is habitat alteration effects on fish energetics, growth and survival. He will be co- teaching third- and fourth-year courses on forestry/fisheries interactions. This is a joint appointment between Forest Sciences, Westwater Research Centre and the Fisheries Centre. Dr. Hinch can be reached at (605) 822-9377. Dr. David Tindall received his doctorate in sociology from the University of Toronto in 1994. Dr. Tindall has expertise in the area of environmental sociology, and an interest in a number of theoretical and substantive problems in the area of conservation and resource management. His current research involves intergroup relations and their effect on conservation/forestry policy development in British Columbia. This is a joint appointment with Anthropology and Sociology. Dr. Tindall can be reached at (604) 822-4823. "or First Nations Forestry and Conservation Programs Mr. Gordon Prest has joined the faculty as Coordinator for First Nations Forestry and Conservation Programs. He was for- merly with the Nicola Valley Institute of Technology, a private First Nations college located in Merrit, B.C., where he was responsible for natural resource technology and community extension program development. He also has extensive work experience in the Natural Resource Management sector with the Ministry of Forests as a Program Manager at the Forest District Level. New Coordinator for First Nations Forestry and Conservation Programs V Mr. Prest's role at UBC will be to work closely with the UBC First Nations House of Learning to provide support and assis- tance for First Nations people wishing to enter the Natural Resource Management and Forest Science fields. More specifi- cally, the goals of this position will be to: • Expand First Nation student participa- tion in UBC's forestry programs. • Develop and implement a program of awareness to help ladder First Nations students in to UBC's forestry programs. • Assist the Faculty in developing cultur- ally relevant First Nations content in programs and courses. • Provide appropriate counselling and referral services for First Nations students within the Faculty. This position is funded by the Vancouver Foundation and the Ministry of Forests. It is the first such position at any university- level forestry program in Canada. Gordon Prest can be reached at (604) 822-0651. Dr. Gordon Baskerville, Head of the Forest Resources Management Depart- ment, has been elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, in the Academy of Science. The nomination was based on his published research which has added substantively to the understanding of the dynamics of forest development. His work has facilitated the use of scientific under- standing of natural systems dynamics to improve the setting of objectives and the design of management proto- cols on the temporal and geographical scales that characterize forests. Dr. Fred Bunnell, Director of the Cen- tre for Applied Conservation Biology, received the 1994 Outstanding Scientist Award of the Northwest Scientific Association in March of this year. Dr. Bunnell was acknowledged for his internationally recognized research on managing and enhancing Pacific North- west ecosystems, in particular his sustained research efforts on develop- ing silvicultural prescriptions that permit harvesting while maintaining wildlife habitats. Congratulations Gordon and Fred! V J New Assistant Dean Position Dr. Susan Watts has been appointed to the permanent position of Lecturer and has accepted an annual appoint- ment as Assistant Dean, External Rela- tions. Her activities will continue much as before, with responsibilites for publi- cations (this newsletter, the Annual Report, special lectures), project pro- posal development and special events, combined with teaching. Susan Watts can be reached at (604) 822-6316. Branch Lines 5 FOREST NEWS from the UBC Research Forests Forest Visitor Activities Continue to Expand O n l y a small percent of visitors to the University Research Forests are, in fact, tradit ional researchers . The scope of people visi t ing the Fores ts today in- cludes politicians, school groups, confer- ence and commercial tour groups, as well as faculty members and graduate stu- dents from UBC and other universities. In addition to this list, the Research Forests attract a steady stream of local residents (estimated at 30,000 per year) who use the forests for recreation and education on a continuing basis. The busiest period at the Forests is in the summer time when large numbers of individuals and groups arrive for fact finding and general interest tours. With decreasing staffing levels at the Forests, pressures to operate on a cost recovery basis and a host of other personnel and financial constraints , it is interest ing to note that staff at the Forests rarely decline visitors. In fact, this aspect of Research Forest activities continues to be encouraged and continues to expand. Although there are no "routine" service- oriented tours for visitors, Forest staff invest considerable effort in attempting to identify, and then meet, visitor infor- mation needs. The diverse nature of the Forests, the extensive availability of educational sites and the vast reposi- tory of historical informat ion main- tained at the Forests, all serve to provide a unique experience for visitors. The work-experience students visiting the Forests (see Branch Lines Volume 5 No. 1, March 1994) not only receive an introduction to forestry and Canadian culture, but also experience direct expo- sure to the diverse groups of visitors using the Forests on a daily basis. Tliis interaction benefits both sides and is yet another example of the Fores ts ' ability to act as communication vehicles at a variety of levels and for people of diverse backgrounds. For further information on the Malcolm Knapp Research Forest, located near Maple Ridge, or to arrange a tour, call (604) 463-8148. For information on the AlexFraser Research Forest, located near Williams Lake, call (604) 392-2207. • Undergraduate Enrolment These enrolment statistics are preliminary and will be finalized in mid-October. o verall student enrolment has peaked again for the 1994/95 session at 452 students. This number is based on 431 registered students, and 21 'unregistered' f ou r th yea r s t u d e n t s w h o wil l be Number of Students 80/81 82/B3 84/B5 86/87 88/89 90|91 92S3 94/95 Year completing their degree requirements later this year. These 'unregistered ' s tudents would have, in past years , been automatically included in our enrol- ment statistics. However, a new univer- sity policy allows fourth year students to complete their ongoing essays or theses without re-registering for the current academic session. These two student groups will continue to comprise of our total enrolment count. Enro lment of s tudents new to the Faculty is currently at 170, down slightly from 176 students last fall. UBC, in general , has exper ienced a decrease in registration for this academic ses- sion. This year ' s prel iminary figures for the number of admitted students who actual ly regis tered for courses indicate a return to the historical levels of approximately 50%, as compared to last year 's figure of 7 0 % . • New Value-added Wood Products Manufacturing Program U B C has proposed a new Co-op Wood P r o d u c t s E n g i n e e r i n g p r o g r a m to prepare approximate ly 50 graduates annually with a strong background in advanced wood products processing technologies, process control, industrial eng inee r ing , bus ines s managemen t , marketing and wood technology. Indus- try experience gained through co-op placements will ensure that graduates have the experience and knowledge to be successful immediately in the small and medium-sized companies emerging in the value-added sector. UBC has also submitted a proposal to the National Educat ion Initiative (NEI) to locate a National Centre for Advanced Wood Products Processing Education on Campus. This initiative has the support of industry, govern- ment and a coalition of education insti- tutions. UBC ' s proposal for this Centre was prepared with fund ing support from Abeda Wood Products, Canwood Furniture, Greenwood Forest Products, Mego Wood Products, Weyerhaeuser ( K a m l o o p s ) , M i l e s t o n e W o o d and Vernon Kiln. For a copy of this proposal phone (604) 822-5303, fax (604) 822-9104) or e-mail dbarrett@unixg.tibc.ca. NEWSLETTER PRODUCTION Branch Lines is published by the Faculty of Forestry at the University of British Columbia three times each year. ISSN 1181-9936. Editor: Susan B. Watts, Ph.D., R.P.F. In-house typesetting and layout: Patsy Quay and Susan B. Watts. Ques t ions conce rn ing the newsle t te r or reques t s for mai l ing list updates , de le t ions o r addi t ions should be d i rec ted to Dr. Susan Wat t s , News le t t e r Edi tor at: Faculty of Forestry University of British Columbia 270-2357 Main Mall Vancouver, B.C. V6T 1Z4 ® ( 6 0 4 ) 8 2 2 - 6 3 1 6 Fax: (604)822-8645 E-mail: suwatts@unixg.ubc.ca Recycled Paper ©Faculty of Forestry, 1994 Branch Lines 6