CRSF Releases Center for Advanced Forestry Systems Annual Report

UMaine’s CRSF, lead site for the NSF-supported Industry/University Research Cooperative Center for Advanced Forestry Systems (CAFS), has released the 2021 CAFS Annual Report. The report includes CAFS single and multi-site project updates, Center activities, and plans for the upcoming year. CAFS academic partners are University of Maine (lead site), University of Georgia, Purdue University, Oregon State University, North Carolina State University, University of Washington, and University of Idaho. Supplemental NSF Skills Training in Advanced Research & Technology (START) funding supports additional partnerships with the University of Maine at Fort Kent and Montgomery (NC) Community College to provide paid internships and field experiences with CAFS industry members.

CAFS industry members benefited from research on white pine blister rust and other tree fungi, regional growth models on the economics of late-rotation fertilization, variables that determine changes in taper allowing for the utilization of localized functions to further improve volume estimation, silvicultural recommendations for Douglas-fir plantations based on physiologic response, models that facilitate comparisons of silvicultural strategies to maximize observed site-index, and informed forest plantation management through more efficient and specific characterization of tree health using remote sensing data.