United States Department of Agriculture	Forest Service	Southern Research Station 200 Weaver Boulevard P.O. Box 2680 Asheville, NC 28802
		Date:   April 16, 2003 Science Contact: Bob Rummer (334-826-8700) rrummer@fs.fed.us News Release Contact Zoë Hoyle (828-257-4388) zhoyle@fs.fed.us

Helping Small Businesses Profit from Thinning Small-Diameter Trees

A Southern Research Station unit is helping a small company in New Mexico develop innovative ways to harvest and use small-diameter trees thinned from U.S. forests.

Federal agencies are slated to thin almost three million acres of U.S. forest this year. A large proportion of the wood removed will be small trees, branches, and brush-wood that is not of much value to traditional sawmills. The SRS Forest Operations Research unit based in Auburn, AL, is working with SBS Wood Shavings of Glencoe, NM, to develop a system that will help small producers transport small-diameter wood more efficiently.

(Click image to enlarge)

SBS Wood Shavings produces high-quality shavings for animal bedding from small-diameter pines. Owners Sherry and Glen Barrow emphasize that their shavings are not a by-product of lumber or milling operations, but are made from the small pines removed during thinning projects designed to mitigate wild fire and restore health to forests in southeastern New Mexico. The Barrows have designed their factory as a sustainable operation. No water is used in the wood shaving process, and sawdust from the shaving process is used as fuel for the drying process.

The SRS Forest Operations unit has worked extensively with SBS, helping them to select equipment and providing presentations for local meetings on logging and economic development. After setting up and automating their wood shavings operation, SBS Wood Shavings was ready to bid on Forest Service (FS) contracts to thin small-diameter wood. The company had several people thinning for them, but no efficient way to transport the logs.

The SRS unit provided assistance to estimate thinning costs for their first thinning contract. Field work this summer will measure the actual productivity of the small-scale thinning system that is being used. Trucking the short bolts to the shavings plant has also been a critical bottleneck. The unit is now developing and testing a new type of transport system for small producers, working with an updated version of the pallet rack system used in the South in the 1960s. The racks can be dropped off wherever someone is thinning, and can be loaded by two people or a small front-end loader.

"We will be testing prototype racks this spring and summer," said Bob Rummer, project leader of the SRS Forest Operations Research unit. "Providing a cost effective way to transport small-diameter wood enables small business to take on the thinning projects that do not interest larger companies-but which are essential to restoring forest health."

Article on SBS Wood Shavings from Four Corners Sustainable Forests Partnership: http://www.fourcornersforests.org/Ruidoso662002.shtm Forest Operations Research unit: http://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/forestops/

For more information: Bob Rummer at (334-826-8700) or rrummer@fs.fed.us

# # #

Return to the News Release Homepage
Return to the Southern Research Station Homepage