The Hardwood Tree Improvement & Regeneration Center mission is to advance the science and application of tree improvement, management, and protection of hardwood forests, with emphasis in the Central Hardwood Forest Region.
The HTIRC will accomplish its mission during 2017-21 through five strategic directions:
The HTIRC is a collaborative partnership between the USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station and Purdue University — focused on the advancement of hardwood-focused research, development, and technology transfer in the Central Hardwood Forest Region (CHFR). Increased consumer demand for hardwood products makes it vital that we increase the quantity, quality, productivity, and health of forests within the CHFR.
From its beginning, the HTIRC has been unique in several ways. The HTIRC is:
Development of this Strategic Plan began in 2015 amid a time of change for the HTIRC. We were faced with the untimely death of Dr. Charles Michler, our founding center director, and a series of leadership changes. Scientists associated with the HTIRC lacked a cohesive sense of mission for the Center. The development of this strategic plan centered on four core questions:
The answers shaped the formation of this plan and defined the approach needed to meet the HTIRC’s mission to advance the science and application of tree improvement, forest management, and protection of hardwood forests, with emphasis on forests of the CHFR.
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The HTIRC was conceived in 1998 to address a perceived void in hardwood tree improvement research in the CHFR. At that time, the region was experiencing a severe production shortage of hardwood tree seedlings, estimated from 25 to 50 million trees annually. The majority of seedlings being produced in state nurseries were also of unknown genetic origin; nurseries were largely relying upon seed collectors for material from wild populations. Thus, the majority of seedlings were unimproved and of unknown quality and genetic diversity.
The hardwood industry was also concerned about the future quantity and quality of the timber resource for its lumber and manufacturing sectors. Due to political and social pressures, federal forests had significantly reduced the annual volume of harvested hardwood timber — a reduction that continues to this day. Small, private woodlots now supply a significant amount of hardwood timber and veneer. However, they are not often managed in a sustainable manner because land- ownership tenure is short relative to timber rotation length and parcel size is decreasing as forests become increasingly fragmented. Woodlots are also increasingly being converted for alternate uses, such as residential housing and commercial developments, or taken out of production and used solely for recreational purposes.
Forest managers also are concerned about loss of genetic quality in remaining hardwood woodlots and natural forests. They believe that trees being managed for future timber harvests are not as straight or vigorous as in previous generations and that past forest harvest practices, including continual selection of the “best” trees only, may have resulted in irreparable loss of genetic quality in the remaining stands.
In the years since the founding of HTIRC, new problems have arisen and others have become more urgent. For example, invasive plants and insects are changing the ecological dynamics of forest environments throughout the CHFR. Many hardwood species are threatened to become functionally extinct. Further, the ecology of our hardwood forests may be altered by climate change. Forest regeneration of high-valued hardwood species is being inhibited by heavy deer browsing and competition from invasive plants. These factors all result in a simplified forest condition. As a result, themforest products industry is gradually losing parts of the resource portfolio necessary for their desired product mix and profitability across market changes.
Consumer demands for quality hardwoods will, at some point, outstrip the productive capacity of the CHFR unless consumers are willing to accept substitute materials. Much of the U.S., European, and Asian demand for hardwood lumber is currently met within the northern and central hardwood zones of the United States. The CHFR encompasses over 300 million acres, six major geologic zones, and all or part of 15 states. It is the hardwood timber-basket of North America, supplying the raw materials to a forest products industry valued at $13.5 billion in Indiana alone (Indiana DNR, 2016). The hardwood resource supports industries in several U.S. states for producing dimensional lumber, veneer, and barrel staves.
Land ownership in this region is dominated by private landowners and secondarily by industry and public agencies. Landowners throughout the CHFR have a deep and longstanding interest in planting trees (afforestation). These efforts have focused on species that consistently return high economic value and / or wildlife value; oak, black cherry, and black walnut are commonly planted. The CHFR also provides habitat for a large number of threatened and endangered plant and animal species.
Agriculture is the biggest land-use competitor for forestry — with corn and soybean production dominating land-use practices and ~20% of the original forestland remaining in Indiana. Other states in the CHFR, such as Ohio, Illinois and Iowa, also support a strong agricultural sector that competes with forestry and other natural-resource management objectives.
Native forests of the CHFR tend to be diverse in species composition and age of trees present. Forests are often naturally regenerated following harvests or natural disturbance, but tree planting may provide some opportunities to control future forest composition when desirable regeneration is not present. Many forests in the CHFR are exploitatively harvested with commercial clearcutting or high-grading; these often result in poor regeneration of desirable trees or low-quality timber left on the site to grow once the quality trees are removed. Tree planting in the CHFR closely tracks conservation programs, where landowners receive federal funds to support the costs and maintenance of establishing and managing forest land.
The mission of the HTIRC is to advance the science and application of tree improvement, management, and protection of hardwood forests, with emphasis in the Central Hardwood Forest Region. We seek to develop research and technology-transfer programs that provide knowledge focused on the establishment and maintenance of sustainable, genetically diverse native forests and the development of highly productive woodlands that provide a wide array of products and services.
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III. Accomplishments During 2011-2016
Under its 2011-2016 Strategic Plan, the HTIRC maintained important infrastructure (Pfendler Hall and the John S. Wright Forestry Center at Purdue), staffing, collaborative networks, and research / extension projects that contributed to its strategic directions and objectives. The advisory committee met annually, and research and extension outcomes were often accomplished in direct collaboration with partner agencies.
Specific HTIRC accomplishments from 2011 to 2016 include:
The goal of the HTIRC strategic-planning process was to create a plan that sets the directions and focus of research, educational, and outreach programs that meet stakeholder needs for the five-year period from 2017 to 2021.
Our planning process began by soliciting input from our stakeholders and advisory committee members on their research, outreach, and extension priorities for the HTIRC in October 2015. HTIRC staff and scientists then met regularly during spring and summer 2016 to discuss the initial stakeholder feedback in light of ongoing and future research and extension activities. Results of those discussions led to development of a more formal, electronic survey of future / desired HTIRC research and extension needs and priorities, distributed in September 2016 to all stakeholders. Results of this survey were presented at a strategic planning meeting of HTIRC staff, held October 1, 2016. This session focused primarily on how to best share the results of the survey with stakeholders and define a process by which we would draft the Strategic Plan.
The results of the survey were then shared with the HTIRC Advisory Committee through a facilitated discussion at our annual meeting on October 26, 2016. Topics identified from the survey and listening session were clarified and refined through a series of meetings with the HTIRC staff. This input was used to guide development of a new Strategic Plan and inform our revised mission statement and new research priorities. Individual topics were consolidated into five broad themes that form the basis of our strategic directions. Working groups were formed for each and tasked with articulating specific, measurable, and attainable objectives around those strategic directions. The results from each working group were then vetted as a group and this Strategic Plan was produced. We then solicited feedback on proposed research and development strategic directions from the Advisory Committee at our annual meeting on October 17, 2017.
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The five strategic directions for the HTIRC are to:
Strategic Directions 1-3: Research and Development
These research and development objectives represent a balanced portfolio that includes low-risk projects that will provide short-term incremental gain and higher- risk projects that could lead to rapid and significant innovation. Research and development projects will be centered on improvement, management, and protection of hardwoods in the CHFR.
There is a continuing need to identify robust genetic markers closely aligned with specific genes associated with important traits, such as pest / disease resistance and associated stress-response genes. In addition, a number of HTIRC plantings are mature enough to calculate genetic gains associated with metric traits such as growth, form, and merchantable volume. Sustained improvement of the genetic quality and regeneration success of the fine hardwood tree species in the HTIRC portfolio will be realized through application of classical breeding, genomics, and seed production technologies — all of which will lead to healthier and more productive forests when combined with appropriate silviculture.
Understand the influence of gene function in hardwood trees as it relates to desirable traits
Explore the potential for biotic resistance in some important hardwood tree species
Address the current lack of improved seed / propagule sources for important hardwood tree species in the CHFR
Expected five-year activities and outputs in this strategic direction:
Long-term research and development outcomes in this strategic direction:
Successful, reliable regeneration of native hardwood stands with high-value tree species continues to elude stakeholders throughout the CHFR. Likewise, many plantations in the CHFR are reaching an age where thinning and other mid-rotation treatments should be applied. Tests of new approaches to silvicultural management of both native stands and plantations will be installed. Regeneration success of the fine hardwood tree species in the HTIRC portfolio will be realized through application of both genetics and modeling to better develop refined management prescriptions.
Refine silvicultural methods to improve oak regeneration in natural stands
Demonstrate early- to mid-rotation management practices in plantations and natural stands
Improve establishment practices of pure and mixed hardwood plantations
Expected five-year activities and outputs in this strategic direction:
Long-term research and development outcomes in this strategic direction:
Forests throughout the CHFR are threatened by ever- increasing herbivore populations, invasive plants, pests, pathogens, and climate change. Active research to quantify the impacts of these agents on regeneration, health, and productivity of CHFR forests is critical to maintaining the economic and ecological services derived from these forests.
Develop and demonstrate strategies to address existing and emerging threats to hardwood forests
Understand direct and indirect effects of high ungulate populations on plantations and native forest ecosystems
Expected five-year activities and outputs in this strategic direction:
Long-term research and development outcomes in this strategic direction:
Strategic Direction 4: Engagement and Extension
The role of HTIRC outreach is to connect our partners, collaborators, and stakeholders with the people, information, and products of the HTIRC. We also engage a broad audience to explain the benefits of forest research, management, and tree improvement for people and the environment.
We will achieve this goal both by communicating state- of-the-art, science-based information and technology and by linking stakeholder needs to the scientific community through:
Increased Visibility of the HTIRC
Expected five-year activities and outputs in this strategic direction:
Longer-term outcomes in this strategic direction:
Strategic Direction 5: Education
Developing future researchers and practitioners with expertise in the science and application of tree improvement, management, and protection of hardwood forests is a key objective of the HTIRC. This will be accomplished by promoting the education and professional development of undergraduate students, graduate students, and post-doctoral research fellows.
Students will be educated and trained through a combination of coursework, specialized research projects, and opportunities to present their research at scientific conferences and extension meetings. These students will become the next generation of leaders as extension professionals, forest ecologists, forest geneticists, forest-health specialists, nursery managers, propagators, silviculturists, and tree- improvement specialists. Exposure to interdisciplinary research initiatives — and to the broad range of end- goals of hardwood users (i.e., commercial, ecological, and conservation) — is a cornerstone of the HTIRC educational experience.
HTIRC students are defined as those students working with HTIRC principal investigators to accomplish HTIRC mission-oriented work as defined in this Strategic Plan. These students may be supported by a variety of funding sources, including department, college, university, and external fellowships or extramural funds. Students in the HTIRC benefit from links to the expertise of HTIRC faculty, staff, and partners, priority access to HTIRC resources (i.e., equipment, supplies, and field sites), and opportunities to present or publish their work in HTIRC-sponsored venues.
HTIRC graduate students, and especially van Eck Scholars, will be financially supported based on their interest and commitment to select research topics critical to this Strategic Plan. It is further expected that such students will work closely with both FNR and USFS scientists as they design and conduct their research.
Expected five-year educational activities and outputs:
Expected five-year educational outcomes:
Beyond these five strategic directions, the HTIRC has several objectives related to organizational function and structure. We believe that achieving these goals within the next five years are essential to the HTIRC’s long-term viability.
1. Increase and expand HTIRC membership
There is a recognizable need to both renew emphasis on recruitment of new external HTIRC partners while working more closely with our existing partners. Specifically, we will develop a plan to enhance research, extension, and educational capacity of the HTIRC by including a broader range of expertise on the Advisory Board and framing our research directions based on their input. This expansion will enable us to be more responsive to our stakeholders, leading to the development and implementation of cutting-edge, integrated (education, outreach, and research / development) projects. Fostering and maintaining this enhanced level of communication with stakeholders and Advisory Board members will be a priority for HTIRC leadership and staff, with input from the Purdue University Forestry and Natural Resources Department Head.
There is a strong need to develop a policy and implementation strategy for delivering genetically improved planting stock derived from HTIRC research efforts. To address this need, a standing committee, composed of representatives of HTIRC leadership and Advisory Committee members, will be created to define a distribution policy and make decisions on the release of HTIRC germplasm to various customers — including collaborating scientists, land managers (public vs. private), and other interested stakeholders.
To optimize research priorities based upon existing HTIRC plantings, we will complete development of a database encompassing all trees (~130,000) in all plantings (175) — including tree location, pedigree information, and available growth data. The long-term goal is to become a centralized repository for additional USDA Forest Service and Purdue tree plantings in the CHFR. Specific database management activities are highlighted below. All field plantings will be assessed for future utility (i.e., survival, growth, site adaptability) in ongoing and future improvement efforts. Re-measurement of retained plantings will be scheduled based on past history and specific traits of interest.
Complete centralization of all data related to HTIRC- installed field trials
Database completion will facilitate estimation of G x E effects in black walnut, red oak, white oak, black cherry, and butternut (data collated in the next year: 37 sites with eight-plus years of year data).
Develop a data “hygiene” plan to standardize all HTIRC data
Develop archival-quality, long-term data / metadata storage to facilitate / enable future USFS future collaborative research across the CHFR.
Centralize other tree genetics databases
By centralizing other relevant tree genetics databases, we will:
4. Develop digital forestry technologies
We recognize the need to develop and refine forest improvement, regeneration, management, and protection tools that incorporate information from existing and emerging remote-sensing technologies (e.g., LiDAR, thermal, hyperspectral imagery) acquired from terrestrial, aerial, and satellite platforms. These technologies are becoming increasingly inexpensive and user-friendly and offer the potential to automate and standardize the many laborious and subjective forest measurements. Further, remote-sensing methods allow rapid scaling-up of plot and stand-level methods to the landscape level, improving forest management efforts throughout Indiana. Effective integration of remote- sensing technologies can contribute to and accelerate successful delivery of many other HTIRC objectives.
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The HTIRC is centered on the Purdue University campus in West Lafayette, Indiana. It also includes close collaborations with the (FS) Northeastern Area State and Private Forestry; USDA Forest Service National Forests Region 9; Indiana Department of Natural Resources Division of Forestry; Indiana Hardwood Lumbermen’s Association; National Hardwood Lumber Association; ArborAmerica; Steelcase, Inc.; American Forest Management; Indiana Forestry and Woodland Owners Association; Walnut Council; the Fred M. van Eck Forest Foundation; and other organizations interested in improving the management of the Central Hardwood Forest.
In close consultation with Dr. Robert Wagner, FNR Department Head at Purdue University, the HTIRC is led by two co-directors: Dr. Mark V. Coggeshall, USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station Project Leader of NRS14, based at Purdue University; and Dr. Matthew D. Ginzel, Associate Professor, Departments of Entomology and Forestry and Natural Resources. Both co-directors assumed their roles in early 2017. Together, Coggeshall and Ginzel seek to enable continued improvement of the HTIRC through active engagement with stakeholders, partners and researchers, and encouraging increased participation by the HTIRC Advisory Board.
HTIRC will be guided by the following principles as it conducts research to meet the objectives outlined in this plan:
Advisory Board
The HTIRC Advisory Board is made up of individuals from HTIRC partner organizations, including industry, state government, landowners, foresters and scientists. The Advisory Board meets annually to receive updates on HTIRC research and provide input on research priorities. These meetings represent an important engagement and outreach effort for the HTIRC.
In addition to development of this new Strategic Plan, it is anticipated that new and more transparent funding mechanisms (i.e., small grants) will be developed to support both new and ongoing research efforts by HTIRC scientists, staff, postdocs, and graduate students. Development of these transparent mechanisms will rely upon active participation of the HTIRC Advisory Board.
For this Strategic Plan, it is envisioned that an Executive Committee, composed of four to five HTIRC Advisory Board members, will be identified. Responsibilities of this Executive Committee will include the timely oversight of all HTIRC activities, as well as providing input to the FNR Department Head and HTIRC leadership in the form of recommendations as they relate to annual research budget allocations. Such allocations may include (but are not limited to) graduate student and post-doctoral scientist support and funding of pilot-scale research projects. Lastly, this HTIRC Executive Committee will provide critical input to the HTIRC leadership on development of a robust plant material release policy for distribution of HTIRC materials to our stakeholders, industry partners, and supporting agencies.
Cooperative Model
Currently, some members of the Advisory Board fund specific projects related to their interests. These special-interest projects could be strengthened with leverage by cooperating entities. If developed, a cooperative model would provide a structure by which member contributions (or dues) are standardized and expectations / deliverables are defined by the group. This structure, to balance contributions with deliverables, can facilitate expansion of our partners to include other states or sectors of the forest products industry. Membership benefits could include access to expertise and genetic material to develop seed orchards (improved material or merely source- identified), leveraged resources towards projects with regional impact, and early access to research findings. A committee to organize the HTIRC into a stakeholder- driven cooperative has been formed, and a cooperative structure is expected to be presented at an October 2018 HTIRC meeting.
HTIRC Staffing
To address the research priorities enumerated in this Strategic Plan, the HTIRC is composed of a diverse array of talented researchers, staff, post-doctoral associates, and graduate students, representing both the Purdue University FNR and Entomology Departments, as well as the USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station. During the 2016-2017 academic year, HTIRC staffing included 13 faculty, nine staff, two postdocs, and 18 graduate students. With the expertise represented by the HTIRC staff, we are ideally positioned to deliver the outcomes presented in this plan.
HTIRC core operating funds are provided by the Fred van Eck Forest Foundation, Purdue University Department of Forestry and Natural Resources and College of Agriculture, and the USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station. Funding for collaborative projects that advance the mission of HTIRC is provided by the USDA Forest Service Northeastern Area State and Private Forestry, private forest landowners, the hardwood forest products industry, and other external sources.
Scientists within HTIRC are expected to apply for grants from federal agencies, including the National Science Foundation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, United States Department of Energy, and United States Department of Agriculture. In addition, grants will be sought from programs such as the Hardwood Forestry Fund, Walnut Council Foundation, American Chestnut Foundation, and Consortium for Plant Biotechnology Research.
The Indiana Hardwood Lumbermen’s Association, National Hardwood Lumber Association, and Indiana Forestry and Woodland Owners Association have each made funding commitments. Landowner groups and other hardwood and conservation associations may be approached in the future to provide funding support.
Several private citizens have also provided funds and land for endowments to fund scholarships, assistantships, and applied research. Future opportunities will be pursued as they arise. Moreover, funding sources for education (e.g., National Needs Fellowships and NSF-Research Experience for Undergraduates) will be explored.
New, incoming HTIRC graduate students, and especially van Eck Scholars, will be financially supported based on their interest and commitment to select research topics critical to this Strategic Plan. It is further expected that such students will work closely with both FNR and Forest Service scientists as they design and conduct their research.
A program review will be conducted in 2021 to assess how well HTIRC has met the above strategic objectives. As part of this review, input will be solicited from the HTIRC Advisory Board members, Purdue University FNR Department Head, Assistant Director for Research from the USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station, scientists, stakeholders, and others associated with HTIRC. In addition, the Advisory Committee will provide annual feedback on research priorities and will suggest re-prioritization of objectives as necessary.