News Releases from the Southern Research Station

Southern Research Station and North Carolina State University Co-Chair International Forest Management Conference

Asheville, NC -- The Southern Research Station (SRS) is co-chairing a conference sponsored by the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) being held in Charleston, SC, October 10-13, 2006, at the Double Tree Guest Suites. The conference, titled “Sustainable Forest Management with Fast Growing Plantations,” will examine the merits of forest plantations to improve the productivity and profitability of forest management on natural forests.

“This conference will explore the broad range of impacts associated with shifting to a more precise, intensive style of forest management,” according to David Wear, Project Leader with the Southern Research Station and co-chair of the conference. “It brings together researchers from a variety of backgrounds and from a number of countries to explore plantation management from biological, economic, environmental, and social perspectives.” Wear is co-chairing the event with Fred Cubbage of North Carolina State University. Chris Goulding of the New Zealand Forest Research Institute is chair of the sponsoring IUFRO Working Group on plantation forestry.

The South, which produces more wood products than any single country in the world, has about 16 percent of its forests under plantation management and provides an excellent site for focusing on issues surrounding forest plantations, including productivity, profitability, biodiversity, and water quality influences of intensive management.

Planned speakers include international forest management experts from Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. Field tours are also planned on the Francis Marion National Forest as well as the Santee Experimental Forest to provide participants the opportunity to explore forest management issues on the Coastal Plain.

For additional information, please contact Wear at (919) 523-5035 or dwear@fs.fed.us, Cubbage at (919) 515-7789 or fred_cubbage@ncsu.edu, or Goulding at chris.goulding@ensisjv.com . Please also visit the conference website at http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/nreos/forest/feop/iufro_plantations/.