In November, WFI Director Sara Wu visited Taiwan and had the opportunity to meet with all of WFI’s Taiwanese alumni, most of them from the Taiwan Forest Research Institute.
The reunion kicked off atop the Taipei World Trade Center, where dinner was held in a suite overlooking the city nightscape. Those attending included Mr. Yen-Chang Chen and his wife and younger son, Dr. Chiung-Pin “Bonnie” Liu, Dr. Jiunn-Cheng "David" Lin and his wife and two sons, I-Shang Chen, Dr. John Wu, Min-Chung “Galy” Yang, and Dr. Pei-Jung Wang and her husband and baby son. Hosting the event were Sara Wu, her father and his wife.
Many of the alumni had to travel far to attend the dinner, as David is director of the remote Taimali research station, Yen-Chang is now director of the Fushan forest recreation reserve, and Bonnie teaches at a university in Tai-chung. The effort they made to attend the dinner was greatly appreciated and it was an opportunity to catch up on what everyone has been doing.
In the days following the alumni reunion, Bonnie accompanied Sara and her family to Fushan, where the Taiwan Forest Research Institute operates an experimental research forest that is also a popular tourist site. Yen-Chang Chen is now the director of the research station. The Fushan watershed feeds into Taipei’s drinking water catchment and visitors are restricted to 300 persons a day to protect the wildlife habitat and watershed. Director Chen invited the Wus to stay the night at the TFRI research facilities, which includes living quarters. Wildlife is plentiful at the reserve, including monkeys, various birds, wild pigs, bats, and insects. There are also fern gardens, a rhododendron garden and rare native species. University students and faculty routinely conduct studies at Fushan, and a small but effective staff, along with hundreds of volunteers, help to maintain trails and provide educational interpretation. Some of the plants at Fushan have medicinal potential and are being analyzed to produce commercial applications.
After Fushan, Bonnie met the Wus in Taichung, where they took Taiwan’s new high-speed rail to get there in less than an hour from Taipei. Bonnie is a professor of watershed ecology, the only female faculty in the entire forestry department. One of her students toured the group through the newly opened National Museum of Natural Science, where a large indoor arboretum houses a waterfall, canopy walk and many tropical plants. The museum also boasts a life-size, multi-million dollar robotic T-Rex dinosaur. The museum is one of many new recreational parks and visitor centers that Taiwan is building to attract tourists. WFI sends heartfelt thanks to our Taiwanese alumni for facilitating these trips!
For more photos, click on the group picture.
Friday, November 30, 2007
Thursday, November 08, 2007
WFI Networks with CINTRAFOR and University of Washington
The University of Washington is one of the largest Pacific Northwest schools with 38,000 students. The College of Forest Resources (CFR) offers a variety of undergraduate and graduate degrees. Fellows spent a day in Seattle utilizing the expertise of the CFR faculty and staff.
CINTRAFOR (Center for International Trade in Forest Products) Director Ivan Eastin and Professor John Perez-Garcia hosted Fellows for a session on softwood lumber exports. The group learned about trends in wood products trade, which was of particular interest to Mariane Camargo (Brazil) who is researching moulding and millwork markets. WFI hopes to collaborate further with CINTRAFOR on projects in the future.
Fellows also met individually with a variety of professors to discuss their projects, on topics of sustainability, technology, marketing, and trade.
In the afternoon Fellows attended the Denman Forestry Issues Series, which was a four-hour series of presentations on biofuels and bioenergy. Over ten speakers provided a variety of viewpoints on Washington’s biomass resources and processing issues.
CINTRAFOR (Center for International Trade in Forest Products) Director Ivan Eastin and Professor John Perez-Garcia hosted Fellows for a session on softwood lumber exports. The group learned about trends in wood products trade, which was of particular interest to Mariane Camargo (Brazil) who is researching moulding and millwork markets. WFI hopes to collaborate further with CINTRAFOR on projects in the future.
Fellows also met individually with a variety of professors to discuss their projects, on topics of sustainability, technology, marketing, and trade.
In the afternoon Fellows attended the Denman Forestry Issues Series, which was a four-hour series of presentations on biofuels and bioenergy. Over ten speakers provided a variety of viewpoints on Washington’s biomass resources and processing issues.
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Fellows Receive Insiders’ Tour at Weyerhaeuser
Fellows traveled to Federal Way, Washington, to visit with Weyerhaeuser at their corporate headquarters. Weyerhaeuser is one of the largest forest products companies world-wide, with an annual sales revenue of $21.9B USD and 46,700 employees in 18 countries. A large majority of their forestlands are located in Canada (26 million acres) but they also manage over 6 million acres in the US.
Jim James, the Director for Environmental Affairs, hosted Fellows and arranged a variety of speakers and presentations. Jim has hosted WFI in the past and is well versed in Weyerhaeuser’s inner workings. He explained some of the company’s core values, one of which is safety. The company believes that there is no such thing as accidents and that all incidents are preventable. Thus, the group received safety briefings at each stage in the tour.
Another of Weyerhaeuser’s focus areas is sustainability. All Weyerhaeuser lands are certified, predominately with the Sustainable Forest Initiative in North America, and elsewhere according to local schemes or ISO 4001. Jim explained that certification may not give a market premium, but it does give market access or preferred supplier status, especially to large companies such as Home Depot. Additionally, certification is viewed by the company as being a good management practice.
Speakers touched on a wide variety of topics of interest to Fellows, including investments in South America and the marketing of Lyptus, a brand for eucalyptus products. Tracking in the log supply chain was explained by the IT department. A researcher from their inventory department discussed experimental plans using LIDAR to acquire inventory data, although this is still in the research phase and much of the information is proprietary.
Fellows were also treated to a tour of the Technology Center. This top secret facility is one of the few remaining large research centers run by forest products companies. Home to 400 researchers, the center conducts a variety of studies, from product quality and strength testing to genetic improvement and cloning to new product development.
Fellows were impressed with the managers’ dedication to the company and the strides the company is taking to stay ahead in today’s difficult market.
Jim James, the Director for Environmental Affairs, hosted Fellows and arranged a variety of speakers and presentations. Jim has hosted WFI in the past and is well versed in Weyerhaeuser’s inner workings. He explained some of the company’s core values, one of which is safety. The company believes that there is no such thing as accidents and that all incidents are preventable. Thus, the group received safety briefings at each stage in the tour.
Another of Weyerhaeuser’s focus areas is sustainability. All Weyerhaeuser lands are certified, predominately with the Sustainable Forest Initiative in North America, and elsewhere according to local schemes or ISO 4001. Jim explained that certification may not give a market premium, but it does give market access or preferred supplier status, especially to large companies such as Home Depot. Additionally, certification is viewed by the company as being a good management practice.
Speakers touched on a wide variety of topics of interest to Fellows, including investments in South America and the marketing of Lyptus, a brand for eucalyptus products. Tracking in the log supply chain was explained by the IT department. A researcher from their inventory department discussed experimental plans using LIDAR to acquire inventory data, although this is still in the research phase and much of the information is proprietary.
Fellows were also treated to a tour of the Technology Center. This top secret facility is one of the few remaining large research centers run by forest products companies. Home to 400 researchers, the center conducts a variety of studies, from product quality and strength testing to genetic improvement and cloning to new product development.
Fellows were impressed with the managers’ dedication to the company and the strides the company is taking to stay ahead in today’s difficult market.
Friday, November 02, 2007
Salmon Life Cycle
Fellows learned about the salmon lifecycle by visiting wild salmon spawning in Eagle Creek and viewing hatchery production at Bonneville Dam. Click on the fish for more photos.
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