Research challenges for structural use of small-diameter round timbers

Forest managers have identified forest stands overstocked with small-diameter trees as a critical forest health issue. Overstocked stands are subject to attack by insects and disease and, as a result of the heavy fuel load, risk total destruction by fire. Prescribed burning is an economic tool for suppressing the growth of brush and tree seedlings, but its use is often restricted for environmental reasons. Forests that contain a heavy fuel load extending into the canopy must be thinned to reduce the fuel load before prescribed burning can be used to avoid future loss caused by fire, insects, and disease. One way to help recover the cost of mechanical thinning is to promote value-added structural uses of the small-diameter round timber to be removed. Although the cost of mechanical removal thinning can be partially justified on the basis of time and money saved by preventing future resource destruction, savings based on conjecture and probability of occurrence are difficult to quantify. Value-added uses of this material can provide immediate return in the form of increased revenue for thinnings and rural economic development. This paper is an overview of the options for round timber structural applications and contains recommendations for research needed to promote acceptance of engineered applications.