Conference Reports - 9th Biennial

Short Rotation Woody Crops Operations Working Group Conference

November 5-8, 2012 Oak Ridge, TN

The conference organizers express their sincere thanks to all of the people listed below who provided excellent quality presentations and posters. This very successful conference was attended by 82 people of which 46% represented academic researchers, 30% represented government researchers, and 20% represented industry researchers and managers. About 90% of the posters and presentations given at the meeting can be obtained via the links below.

Download the Conference Agenda and Abstracts

Tuesday, November 6, 2012 Opening Remarks

Mark Downing, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Tim Rials, The University of Tennessee

Opening Plenary Session

Moderator: Mark Downing, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Bob Emory, Weyerhaeuser Company, National Wood to Energy Roadmap [Slides]
Jose Zerpa, Greenwood Resources, Growing Trees for Fun and Profit
Jerry Tuskan, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, New Technology for New Markets [Slides]

Opportunities and Hurdles for Genetically Engineered Tree Crops

Moderator: Randy Rousseau, Mississippi State University

Maud Hinchee, Freeze Tolerant Eucalyptus: Opportunities and Challenges
CJ Tsai, Wood quality and stress tolerance – can we have both? The promise and challenge of gene multiplicity in the post-genomics era
Gary Peter, Opportunities and Challenges Associated with Genetically Engineered Southern Pines
Rick Meilan, Poplar as an Energy Crop: A View from Indiana [Slides]

Markets and Economics of SRWC

Moderator: Jeff Wright, ArborGen Inc.

Tim Volk, The Potential Impact of Improving Production and Harvesting Systems and Implementing Incentive Programs on the Economics of Willow Biomass Crops [Slides]
Matthew Langholtz, Harvest Scheduling of Eucalyptus spp. In Florida for Economic and Environmental Optimization [Slides]
Bill Berguson, Poplar Production Costs, Opportunity Costs and Economics of Liquid Fuels Production [Slides]
Laurence Eaton, Evaluating the Impact of Feedstock Quality on Delivered Cost: Two Case Studies from the US Southeast Region [Slides]
Jeff Wright, Eucalyptus Plantations in Florida USA: Economic Analysis of Current and Potential Uses [Slides]

Production Systems for SRWC (Part 1 – Poplars, Willows, Aspen)

Moderator: Matt Langholtz, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Jose Zerpa, Hybrid Poplar as a Bioenergy Feedstock for the Pacific Northwes [Slides]
Theodor Leininger, Developing Biomass Crop Production Systems for Eastern Cottonwood and Black Willow in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley [Slides]
Gary Kling, Woody Perennial Feedstock Evaluation at the Energy Biosciences Institute [Slides]
William Headleea, Effects of Topographic Position and Fertilizer Rate on the Early Growth of Hybrid Aspen ‘Crandon’ Alleycropped with Winter Triticale Near Ames, IA [Slides]
Glen Stanosz, What You Don’t Know CAN Hurt You: Why Disease-induced Catastrophe Threatens Short-rotation, Intensive-culture Woody Crop Production Systems

Genetics and Tree Improvement Strategies (Pines, Poplars, Willows, Other Species)

Moderators: Tim Tschaplinski, Oak Ridge National Laboratory & Jerry Tuskan, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Michelle Serapiglia presenting for Lawrence Smart, Genomic and Mapping Resources for the Genetic Improvement of Shrub Willow Feedstock Crops [Slides]
Randall Rousseau, Improvement of Black Willow in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley [Slides]
Bijay Tamang, Genetic Improvement of Cottonwood and Hybrid Poplar Clones for Short Rotation Woody Crop Systems [Slides]
Jared M LeBoldus, Screening Hybrid Poplar for Resistance to Septoria musiva: Greenhouse to Field Correlations Using a Novel Inoculation Procedur [Slides]
Kurt Johnsen, Can Light Efficient Ideotypes of Loblolly Pine be Used to Produce High Productivity Short Rotation Bioenergy Plantations?

Poster Session

Idenifying Superior Poplar Clones for the Production of Biofuel in Michigan
Paul Bloese, Raymond Miller, Daniel Keithley
Black Willow (Salix nigra Marsh.) Tree Improvement in the Development of a Biomass Species for Marginal Agricultural Land in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley
B. Landis Herrin, Randall Rousseau, Jake Camp
Development and Testing of the EPS Whole Tree Harvester
L. David Ostlie 2012 EPS Harvester_Ostlie
Challenging Change: Shifting Pest Pressures in Biomass Production
R. Andrew Rodstrom, Alejandro I. Del Pozo, John J. Brown
Harvesting, Storing and Processing Woody Crop Plantations with a Biobaler
Philippe Savoie, François-Simon Robert, Pierre Luc Hébert
Species Trials of Short Rotation Woody Crops on a Wastewater Application Fields in North Carolina, USA
Shawn Dayson Shifflett, Dennis Hazel, Elizabeth Guthrie Nichols
Hybrid Poplar Production Using Energy Performance Systems Injection Tree Planter
Lynn Wright, David Ostlie 2012 EPS Planter_Wright
Assessing the Environmental Sustainability of Plantation Populus and Pinus in North America.
Ronald S. Zalesny, Jr., Edmund O. Bauer, Bruce A. Birr, John Brissette, Steve Colombo, Robert E. Froese, Les Groom, Richard B. Hall, Thomas M. Isenhart, Pingxin Lu, Bill Parker, Jessee A. Randall, Ngaire Roubal, Christopher W. Swanston, Adam H. Wiese, JunYong Zhu Zalesny et al POSTER Nov2012
Short Rotation Populus: A Biography and Database of North American Literature, 1989-2011
Ronald S. Zalesby, Jr., David R. Coyle Zalesny Coyle SRWCOWG database POSTER Nov2012

Wednesday, November 7, 2012 International SRWC Production and Use

Moderator: Lynn Wright, WrightLink Consulting

Kevin Snowden, Short Rotation Crops in New Zealand
Andrew Leslie, The Potential for Eucalyptus as a Woody Energy Crop in the United Kingdo [Slides]
John Purse, Eucalyptus for Short Rotation Forestry in the British Isles – A Long History of Trials [Slides]
Laércio Couto, Short Rotation Eucalypt Plantations for Energy in Brazil: an Overview [Slides]
Richard Sulman, Bionic Beaver Harvester Development and Testing [Slides]

Uses of SRWC for Social and Environmental Benefit/Sustainability

Moderator: Ron Zalesny, US Forest Service, Northern Research Station

Michel Labrecque, Root Development in a Willow Vegetation Filter Under Different Irrigation and Fertilization Regimes
Eric Holzmueller, Targeting Productive Lands Enrolled in Forest Stewardship Program [Slides]
William Headlee, Using the 3-PG Model to Predict and Map Hybrid Poplar Biomass Productivity in Minnesota and Wisconsin [Slides]
Ronald Zalesney, An approach for siting poplar energy production systems to increase productivity and associated ecosystem services [Slides]
Dennis Hazel, Opportunities in North Carolina for Producing Woody Biomass for Energy on Liability, Marginal, and Non-Productive Land [Slides]
Virginia Dale, Environmental and Socioeconomic Indicators for Bioenergy Sustainability as Applied to Short Rotation Woody Crop [Slides]

ORNL Tours

Arboretum Tour (UT Forestry Research Center located in Oak Ridge)
Overview of UT Forestry Research Center Activities by Kevin Hoyt
Overview of Center for Renewable Carbon Activities by Dr. Tim Rials
ORNL power plant recently converted to producing syngas from wood chips

Thursday, November 8, 2012 Production Systems for SRWC (Part 2 – Pines and Sweetgum)

Moderators: Matt Langholtz, Oak Ridge National Laboratory & Lynn Wright, WrightLink Consulting

Timothy Albaugh, Identifying Optimal Nutrient Rates and Applications Frequency to Achieve and Maintain High Pinus taeda Plantation Production in the Southeastern United States
Jose Stape, Potential Eucalyptus species and the required silvicultural system for biomass production in the ecological regions of the southeastern United States [Slides]
Donald J Kaczmarek, Development of High-Yielding Sweetgum Plantation Systems for Bioenergy Production in the Southeastern United States [Slides]

Harvesting/handling Technology Updates

Moderators: Kevin Hoyt, UT Forest Resources Research and Education Center & Dalia Abbas, Tennessee State University

Dalia Abbas, Harvesting of “Small” Material from Natural Stands
Chris Keziah & Elliott Barnett, Handing/preparation of biomass wood chips (ORNL Gasification Unit) [Slides1] [Slides2]
Dr. Ken Smith, Southern Biomass Harvesting Guideline [Slides]
Dana Mitchel, Production Results from Harvesting a 5-year Old Poplar Stand

Panel discussion: Commercial Case Studies