Utilization of nontraditional species

Forestry practices are changing, and so are the materials being removed from the forests. The days of large, clear cuts of a single or limited number of species are either gone or fading rapidly on public lands. The volume of materials coming from the forests has also decreased. Materials being removed consist of small-diameter trees, mixed species, and mixtures of softwoods and hardwoods. Species are now being included that were considered nonusable or underutilized many years ago. The Fiber Processes and Paper Properties Research Work Unit at the Forest Products Laboratory (USDA Forest Service) are participants in a National Project on Wood Utilization Options for Ecosystem Management. Several goals of ecosystem management are restoring forest health and biodiversity, reducing insect and disease vulnerability, and reducing the extreme fuel loads in the forest. As part of this project, raw materials were obtained from eastern Washington and western Idaho. The raw materials were lodgepole pine and mixed Douglas-fir/western larch sawmill residue chips; lodgepole pine, Douglas-fir, and western larch sub-merchantable logs; and lodgepole pine, Douglas-fir, and western larch small-diameter trees and tops. Sub-merchantable logs and small-diameter trees and tops are considered nonusable or underutilized. In this study, thermomechanical pulp (TMP) was prepared from these raw materials and made into paper handsheets for testing. Small-diameter trees and tops from Douglas-fir and lodgepole pine were equal or better than TMP prepared from the same species sawmill residue chips. TMP prepared from Douglas-fir, western larch, and lodgepole pine sub-merchantable logs and western larch small-diameter trees and tops were lower in properties than TMP prepared from the same species sawmill residue chips.