It gives me great pleasure to introduce this first issue of our new KY Wood Industry newsletter. Our objective is to make you aware of news we believe is relevant to your businesses. This publication is designed for primary and secondary wood products manufacturers, but it will also periodically contain articles of interest for landowners and other audiences....more.

Have you had any request to produce certified wood products?  Do you know anything about certifying your wood products? Would you like to know more or how you can become certified?
   The Center for Forest and Wood Certification (CFWC) was founded to specifically help forest industries with certification.  The CFWC is a partnership venture between wood industry, foresters, non-profits, and academia who are experts in certification. more....

The University of Kentucky Forestry Extension is offering a Profile Knife Grinding and Moulder Set-up and Operation Shortcourse to be conducted at the UK Wood Utilization Center located in Jackson, KY, April 10-11, 2012. Click here for a brochure of the training.

The first meeting of the newly-formed Kentucky Wood Producers Association was held on December 5, at Ron Harris' sawmill in Bagdad, KY. Attending this inaugural meeting were Ron Harris (Bagdad Lumber and Logging), Holger Groessler (Maple Log Farms), Gary McInturf (McInturf Sawmill and Kiln), Ian Horn (Hornwood Reclaimed Lumber), and Terry Conners (UK Forestry Extension).  more....

Tom Inman, the American Hardwood Manufacturers, Inc. (AMHI) President, sent us a note about "The Lorax," the Dr. Seuss book that's recently been made into a movie and released in theaters. Tom writes, "The story line follows the decline of the forest because of the activities of man. AHMI member Terri Birkett of Ten Oaks Flooring wrote a book in the 1990s called "Truax" to counter the Lorax and tell the "true" story of what happens in the forest and not environmental "folklore." It is an encounter between Guardbark, protector of trees, and Truax, the logger. In a fast paced, fun, rhythm and rhyme style, the book addresses issues such as harvesting trees, regeneration, old growth, biodiversity, endangered species and other forestry issues. Its simplistic and humorous fashion reaches the imaginations of children and enables them to understand the logic in forest management." more....

Forestry Conclave

The University of Kentucky Forestry Department sent a team of students to Raleigh, NC on March 15 to compete with thirteen other Forestry departments from colleges around the southeast. Over 200 students competed in forestry-related technical and skill events including axe throw, archery, crosscut saw, bow saw, birling, chain throw, knife throw, log rolling, pole climbing, log chopping, pole felling, compass and pacing, DBH estimation, tree identification, photogrammetry, pole classification, timber estimation, wildlife identification and wood identification. For more information, contact Terry Conners.