Research and Partnerships
- $26.1
- Million dollars spent on forestry research in 2010
Sustainable forestry requires continuous improvement built on a foundation of sound scientific research and technological innovation. We believe Weyerhaeuser has the best forestry research organization in the world, with a wealth of environmental research that we use and share.
RESEARCH SPENDING
In 2010, we spent $26.1 million on forestry research done by our own scientists and those at universities and other research organizations. Topics included forest health and productivity, water quality, fish and wildlife, landscape management and biodiversity.
RESEARCH PARTNERSHIPS
Managing migratory bird habitats
Weyerhaeuser and Ducks Unlimited Canada are engaged in a five-year, $2.5 million (CAN$1.25 million per partner) conservation project that will provide science-based information to help manage migratory bird habitats in all three of Weyerhaeuser's Alberta forest management areas. The partnership will focus on conserving boreal wetland systems, including riparian areas. These watersheds of the western boreal forest are vital to northern communities and provide unparalleled economic, environmental and social benefits to all Canadians.
In addition to supporting Ducks Unlimited Canada's inventory work, which began in July 2006, we will collaborate on research to inform best management practices (e.g., stream and lake buffers, effect of roads on subsurface hydrology). Traditional land use inventories and relationships with local aboriginal groups and woodlot owners are areas that both organizations intend to address through ongoing efforts.
The first collaborative research topic selected will focus on assessing watershed vulnerability and, in turn, determining the resiliency of varying amounts of wetland to harvesting activities.
Fostering conservation and sustainable management of biological diversity in managed forests
The Nature Conservancy and Weyerhaeuser have cooperated on a number of projects beginning in 1976. In early 2007, we accelerated our collaboration with a five-year program and $1 million in funding from Weyerhaeuser. The program focused on fostering conservation and sustainable management of biological diversity in managed forests. Through the agreement, Weyerhaeuser funded projects in Arkansas, Mississippi, Oregon and Washington. Severe economic conditions forced a reduction in 2009. The total funding was about $600,000.
The Conservancy considers Oregon’s Willamette Valley to be one of eight critically endangered ecoregions in the United States. Less than 1.5 percent of the valley is protected and managed for biological diversity. Weyerhaeuser contributed $90,000 to support the Conservancy’s ongoing efforts to address these gaps. Also in Oregon, Weyerhaeuser has agreements with The Nature Conservancy to manage three conservation easements on Weyerhaeuser land totaling 229 acres. The company consults on management of an additional 638 acres to help protect unique ecological sites. One of the unique sites being protected has populations of Kincaid lupine, a plant that is habitat for the rare Fender's blue butterfly. Another example is a coastal bog that provides many ecological functions. In 2004 and 2005, the Weyerhaeuser Company Foundation donated a total of $100,000 to The Nature Conservancy to assist in the conservancy's site management.
In Mississippi, the mission of The Nature Conservancy is to find, protect and maintain the best examples of natural communities, ecosystems and endangered species in the state. To help achieve these goals, Weyerhaeuser worked with The Nature Conservancy on the Tombigbee River Watershed Program, in the Old Cove area of Webster County, and in a partnership to protect unique land on the Buttahatchie River. This land is in the northeast region of the state, near the Mississippi-Alabama state line. The protected area includes dramatic sandstone bluffs that drop 30 to 40 feet to the river's floodplain.
The Old Cove area is located in a 12,000-acre forested landscape that includes the headwaters of three rivers, the ecologically unique Shelton Mountain, Old Cove, and Magnolia cove, and at least 12 rare or little-known invertebrate species. The 350-acre Old Cove area is inside a large working forest used to produce timber for lumber and other forest products. Several rare plant species have been documented there, including Maple Leaf Viburnum, Star Vine and Yellow Lady’s Slippers. A cooperative study between The Nature Conservancy, Mississippi State University, and Weyerhaeuser has recently completed and final results relative to the biodiversity value of the Old Cove landscape including plantation stands, riparian areas, and the ecologically unique areas will soon be available. Researchers documented 21 species of reptiles and amphibians and 48 species of birds with species contributions from all forest types. Data from an initial rare plant survey further documented a number of rare plant species with a follow-up survey scheduled for 2011.
Studying the effects of forestry on the Trask River Watershed
Weyerhaeuser, along with the Oregon Department of Forestry and other agencies, is conducting an integrated, multi-disciplinary study on the effects of forest management on fish and the aquatic ecosystems of the Trask River Watershed. This study involves the close cooperation of scientists, land-use managers and planners in design and implementation of watershed treatments. The two main objectives of the study are to determine:
- The effects of forest harvest on the physical, chemical and biological characteristics of small headwater streams.
- The extent to which potential stream alterations caused by timber harvest along headwater channels influence the physical, chemical and biological characteristics of downstream fish-bearing streams.
The Trask River Watershed Study (North-Coast) is part of a research cooperative including two other watershed studies in Oregon- Hinkle Creek (Cascades) and Alsea Revisited (Mid-Coast). The three studies include research projects that both complement each other by using similar designs and methods, and that differ according to the objectives of the study area. The Trask River Watershed study uses a replicated, paired watershed approach to examine the effects of public and private forestland harvest practice at two spatial scales: at the local small stream scale and downstream on fish-bearing streams. The Trask Watershed Study, along with the other research cooperative studies, will provide important information on the effects of contemporary forest practices on aquatic ecosystems under different landowner management objectives. Further, the integrated, multi-disciplinary approach to the research allows for greater understanding of complex physical, chemical and biological responses to management.
Piloting a habitat-based approach to at-risk biodiversity conservation on commercial forestlands
Weyerhaeuser is collaborating with NatureServe and state Natural Heritage programs, the National Council for Air and Stream Improvement, and the Sustainable Forestry Initiative certification program to evalutate habitat associations of at-risk biodiversity areas in the U.S., develop tools to efficiently locate and evaluate these habitats, and document management guidelines for their conservation.
The numbers of at-risk species and communities that could occur on fiber-producing lands nationwide run into the thousands, but due to limited field inventories, precise locality data are lacking. The collaborative application of the expertise, methods, and tools contributed by partnering organizations will provide the forest industry with the means to efficiently allocate scarce resources while ensuring the certification standards for at-risk biodiversity are met.
The project will help provide:
- Benchmark inventory lists of at-risk biodiversity and descriptions of relationships to habitats for three pilot forest regions.
- Input to industry planning staff, managers, consultants, and procurement personnel regarding the potential occurrence of at-risk biodiversity.
- Regional context for the relative importance of the biodiversity in areas of interest to landowners, managers, and procurement personnel.
Sustainability in Action
An idea with wings
Regardless of how you may feel about them, there's no denying bats are critical critters. There are more than 1,100 bat species worldwide, yet they suffer as one of the most misunderstood groups of animals. Their ecological importance, however, cannot be ignored.
Bats pollinate plants (such as the agave cactus, used to produce tequila), eat scores of vegetation-devouring insects (saving billions of dollars worth of crops and reducing the need for pesticide use), and swallow mosquitoes by the bucketful. Without bats, our planet would be far less green, diverse and vibrant, and our quality of life would be seriously affected.
"Bats are interesting and important," says Dr. Darren Miller, Weyerhaeuser's Southern environmental research manager, "but we know so little about them, it's often difficult to provide management recommendations to help conserve them and the habitat they depend on." We do know they're essential, though, which is why bat fans such as Miller band together to learn more about these fuzzy fliers.
In an effort to better understand bats, bat biologists lead volunteers in a whirlwind data-gathering exercise known as the "Bat Blitz." From dusk to 2 a.m., for three nights in a row, they'll catch bats in very fine "mist nets" strung across flyways. The animals are examined, measured and sometimes tagged. Hair and tissue samples may be taken for genetic testing. All this information is added to databases that aid understanding and conservation.
"Bats are really hard to catch," Miller says, "so when you get dozens of people out there, you can get as much information in three days as a field team gets over a whole season, maybe two."
Bat blitzes have occurred on public lands all across the southeastern U.S. There've been eight since 2001, organized by the Southeastern Bat Diversity Network.
The need for information is especially urgent now. A disease called white nose syndrome that began in the northeastern U.S., is killing bats during the hibernation period. And it's spreading. In three years, it's made it from New York to Virginia and earlier this year was found in Tennessee and Missouri.
"It's already killed more than a million bats," Miller says, "and it's probably the greatest threat they've ever faced in the eastern U.S."
The U.S. Forest Service recently honored the SBDN's effort with its 2010 Wings Across America Award for bat conservation. Miller and Weyerhaeuser are cited as two of several key partners. Miller, current president of the SBDN, has been actively involved in the past seven blitzes as a team leader and organizer.
Studying the effects of afforestation on hydrology and drainage water quality
Weyerhaeuser is working with North Carolina State University’s Biological & Agricultural Engineering Department to quantify the impact of forestry and biomass crop production on hydrology and drainage water quality in both Uruguay and North Carolina.
Growing trees and other crops to produce forest and energy products is a promising method of improving local economies and contributing to energy security, with the added potential of sequestering CO2, reducing the effects of climate change. However, introduction of trees and improved crops may have high impact on water yield due to higher transpiration rates. While studies reaching this conclusion have typically been conducted in water-limited environments, afforestation is expected to have some effect on water yield, regardless of location. This is important to understand because water availability and water-quality decline have increasingly become a worldwide issue as human population rises.
Specific objectives of this project are:
- Determine the hydrologic and water quality effects of afforestation of grass lands in Uruguay by conducting long-term paired watershed studies.
- Determine impacts of land use, including managed forestry, biomass crops for energy and managed forests with interplanted biomass crops on hydrology, water yield, and drainage water quality in Uruguay and North Carolina.
- Develop and test models to predict the hydrology and water quality impacts of land use and management practices including afforestation and biomass crop production on lands that were historically in pasture, native grassland, or poorly drained agricultural lands.
- Incorporate the information derived from this research into useable concepts and materials for stakeholders leading to improved management of forest land, biomass crop land, and pasture land.
Learn more about this project.
