Conference Reports – 10th Biennial

Short Rotation Woody Crops Operations Working Group Conference

July 17-19, 2014 Seattle, WA

Friday, July 18, 2014   Opening Remarks

  • Lynn Wright, WrightLink Consulting and SRWCOWG Chair
  • Patricia Townsend , Washington State University

Opening Plenary Session  

  • Jeff Nuss, Greenwood Resources, Growing the Future with SRWC
  • Patricia Townsend, Advanced Hardwood Biofuels Northwest: Renewable Biofuels for the Pacific Northwest [Slides]

Tree Improvement Programs

Moderator: Jeff Wright, ArborGen, Inc.

  • Lawrence Smart, Breeding Triploid Hybrids of Shrub Willow with Improved Yield and Biomass Composition [Slides
  • Daniel Keathly, Assessment of Silver Maple (Acer Saccharinum) Seed Sources for Biomass Production in Northern Michigan
  • Randy Rousseau, Hybrid poplar: Can they survive in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley [Slides]
  • Jeffery Kallestad, Vole and Deer Feeding Preferences for Conal Variants of Poplar: A Role for NIR Spectroscopy in Predicting Consumption Based on Known and Unknown Compounds in Foliage and Bark
  • Jeff Wright, Hybrid Sweetgum in the Southeastern United States [Slides]

SRWC Production Alternatives

Moderator: Ron Zalesny, US Forest Service

  • Tim Rials, The IBSS Partnership: Advancing Energy Crop Supply Systems in the Southeastern United States [Slides]
  • Bill Berguson, Development of Yield Estimates of Short Rotation Poplar and Mapping of U.S. Poplar Yield Potential [Slides]
  • William Headlee, Using Process-Based Modeling to Inform SRWC Species Selection and Management in the Southeastern USA [Slides]
  • Fred Gouker, Yield and Biomass Quality of Shrub Willow Hybrids in Differing Rotation Lengths and Row [Slides]
  • Kurt Johnsen, Designs Growth, Photosynthesis, Cold Tolerance, and Survival of Eucalyptus benthamii Planted in the Piedmont of North Carolina

Management & Care of SRWC

Moderator: Rick Stonex, GreenWood Resources, Inc.

  • Gary Kling, Evaluation of Short Rotation Woody Plant Performande at the Univeristy of Illinois Planting density effects on biomass growth of hybrid poplar clones in Michigan: A sixth-year update
  • Kevin Hall, A growth and yield model for the Eucalyptus benthamii in the Southeastern United States [Slides]
  • Raymond Miller, Planting density effects on biomass growth of hybrid poplar clones in Michigan: A sixth-year update [Slides]

Harvest and Handling of Short Rotation Woody Crops

Moderator: John Posselius, CNH Industrial America LLC

  • Justin Heavey, Commercial production and harvesting of shrub willow crops in New York State [Slides]
  • Shun Shi, Evaluation of a New Holland single-pass, cut-and-chip harvest system on commercial-scale short-rotation shrub willow plantations in central New York State [Slides]
  • Dana Mitchell, Harvesting Trials and Coppice Response of Three Hardwood SRWCs [Slides]

Saturday, July 19, 2014

Sustainability of Short Rotation Woody Crops: Environmental & Social Benefits

Moderator: Mark Coleman, University of Idaho

  • Alistair McCracken, Impact of biomass renewable energy on AFBI research station  
  • Natalie Griffiths, Environmental sustainability of woody biomass production for bioenergy in the southeastern United States
  • Ron Zalesny, Contrasting Ecosystem Services of Hybrid Poplar and White Pine in the Upper-Midwest, USA [Slides]
  • Danielle Kloster, Using RUSLE2 to Model Soil Erosion Potential for Shrub Willow [Slides]

Economics of Short Rotation Woody Crops

Moderator: Michael Jacobson, Pennsylvania State University

  • Laurence Eaton, Enhanced National Feedstock Supply Modeling of Woody Crops for Bioenergy and Bioproducts [Slides]
  • Nathan Parker, Evaluation of the economics of drop-in biofuel production from coppiced poplar grown on suitable rangeland and cropland in the Pacific Northwest [Slides]
  • Michael Jacobson, Economically Marginal Lands for Planting Energy Crops

20 years of SRWCOWG: Looking Back – Lynn Wright, WrightLink Consulting & SRWCOWG Chair [Slides] Poster Session

AHB Tours

  • Advanced Hardwood Biofuels Northwest Pilchuck Field Tour