HTIRC

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Scott Brundage, HTIRC Advisory Committee Member passed away on Saturday, August 8, 2020.

We express our deepest condolences following the passing of Scott Brundage. Scott, a consulting forester in Missouri, was a longstanding cooperator of the HTIRC and served on our Advisory Committee since the beginning. We pay tribute to his life of service and are grateful for his contributions to forestry and the HTIRC.

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Purdue pursues industry hardwood partnerships through NSF-backed center

When a company like West Point’s ArborAmerica has questions about optimal growing conditions for its hardwood forestry plantations, there haven’t traditionally been many places to turn. Much of the research on plantations has been done for the conifer and softwood industry. Hardwood work has focused on natural, forested land.

The Center for Advanced Forestry Systems (CAFS), a National Science Foundation-funded Industry/University Cooperative Research Center, offers the needed solution. The center, of which Purdue’s Hardwood Tree Improvement and Regeneration Center is a founding member, develops partnerships with forest-related companies to help solve pressing needs in their industry.

For ArborAmerica, that partnership resulted in developing a new slow-release nitrogen fertilizer formulation that is better utilized by the company’s walnut trees and is less likely to leach into nearby waters.

“We know how other crops respond to nitrogen fertilization. But if we’re going to spend money on that for our fine hardwood plantations, it’s a good thing to know what’s going to happen to that nitrogen after application, for environmental and economic reasons,” said Guillermo Pardillo ArborAmerica’s deputy CEO. “The results of this partnership allowed us to be more precise and more accurately trace our nitrogen applications.”

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