The supply chain for forest products can be long and complicated before the final product reaches the consumer. This week, Andy Fast and Steve Roberge (Extension Specialists in Forest Industry and Forestry), with financial support from the Northern Border Regional Commission, and technical expertise from Patrick Duffy of Woodworks, hosted staff from Massachusetts Audubon and Boston-area architects, builders, and engineers to guide them from “stump to CLT (cross-laminated timber).” Participants learned how New Hampshire's forests are managed to meet the values, products, and experiences we expect from our forested landscape; they toured a recent harvest on UNH Woodlands to discuss forest ecology and management; and they enjoyed the UNH Sawmill where logs were sawn to demonstrate how different products were produced and utilized. The day ended at a 3-story building in Newington, NH made of mass timber (cross-laminated timber panels and glulam engineered wood timbers), and they learned about Sterling Structural’s CLT panels, which are sourced from New England forests.
As one participant noted “[we] really appreciated your experience, knowledge, and passion for what you do and feel fortunate to have had almost our entire office participate yesterday. It was a tremendous opportunity, a lot of fun, and made us realize how little we really know about the wood industry! As we continue to build on our mass timber experience and interest, I’m sure what we learned from you all will influence our future design and specification efforts.”
Check out some photos from the day below.
To learn more about the organizations who participated, visit the links below.
- Mass Audubon https://web.massaudubon.org/site/PageServer
- Oudens Ello Architecture www.oudens-ello.com
- Chapman Construction/Design https://www.chap-con.com/
- Simpson Gumpertz & Heger (SGH) https://www.sgh.com/
- LeMessurier https://www.lemessurier.com/
- Wood Works https://www.woodworks.org/
- Northern Border Regional Commission https://www.nbrc.gov/
- Sterling Structural https://sterlingstructural.com/
