Anatomy of Trees and Lumber Production

Neve

After eating a hearty breakfast of oatmeal, bacon, and eggs, we met with Rick from the Montana Department of Natural Resources. Rick introduced us to certain statistics concerning the Forest Industry and then we went out on a snowshoe hike around the property. On the hike, Rick pointed out several trees native to the land, with an emphasis on lodge pole pine. Rick discussed the dangers of monoculture in the forests and furthermore several diseases which affect the trees and spread in the park. To demonstrate the trees condition and age, he tapped several different trees, and we were able to look at life rings, thus able to determine age and spurts of growth. Likewise, he discussed the dangers of over population and clear-cutting. After showing us a portion of land which had been thinned by the Forest Service, Rick was quick to assure us that while the Forest Service does not make the correct decisions all the time, they are forced to make difficult decisions to protect the land and that the forest industry is often a gray area. We concluded our walk on the property by creating our paths back to the lodge and prepared to head to the Cross-laminated Timber Factory.

Josie

After our snowshoe hike around the property, we returned to the lodge for lunch inside and then drove over to the Cross-Laminated Timber Factory. There, we spoke to the founder of the Cross-Laminated Timber Company, Smartlam. He spoke to us about the many benefits of Cross-Laminated Timber, known as CLT, such as stability, fire-resistance, durability, and how cost-effective it is. After his presentation, we were given a tour of the factory. On the tour we saw the whole process of how the CLT is made. We saw their system of finger jointing, compression, cutting, and adhesion. After the tour of the factory, we also were able to see a wood stove that heated the facility with the leftover scraps of wood and then we were shown the area where they perform quality control tests. They test the adhesion by using a press to pull apart the wood, in hopes of it breaking with fibers instead of along the adhesions. Once the tour of the factory was complete, we drove from the warehouse to a property where they had installed multiple buildings using CLT. Overall, we were able to learn about an industry very new to the United