A Special $eries from North American Wholesale Lumber Association

trying to decipher the biology of the disease, but they still don't know how it spreads.

Losses from insect and disease are highly correlated with forest health-vigorously growing forests are much less susceptible to outbreaks than stressed, overcrowded, senescent forests. Characteristics of healthy managed forests that make them less susceptible to physical risk include trees that have natural resistance to insect and disease attacks, closely monitoring health conditions, and bringing insect and disease outbreaks under control as soon as they are observed, by removing attacked or infected trees.

About 1,400 invasive plant species pose significant threats to American forests, according to the USDA Forest Service. Most aren't native to the United States and have no natural predators. As a result, these plants grow uncontrollably, overwhelming and displacing other plants. Kudzu is a great example.

In some areas, "the greatest threat to our forests is urban sprawl," says one U.S. Forest Service director. Scientists at the Forest Service predict that urban and developed land areas in the U.S. will increase 4l%o by 2060. Forested areas will be most impacted by this expansion, with losses ranging from l6 to 34 million acres in the lower 48 states.

Solutions to urban sprawl fall to planners primarily outside the forest service and lumber industry. As troubling as the trends and forecasts are for forests and farms lost to development, market preferences are now trending in favor of closer-in, more walkable living. Future development can respond accordingly, conserving the landscape in the process.

Controlling these threats is vitally important, and these are by no means the only dangers facing timberlands and the lumber industry. Notably, as issues present themselves, the people of the industry are rising up with new solutions and surprising new ideas to transcend the problems and point toward a stronger future.

Woodr The Basics

With the lumber industry showing signs of recovery, opportunities are increasing for people new to the business, many of whom will need an introduction to the industry. That's what NAWLA's Wood Basics Course is all about.

Taught by industry experts, this fourday immersion class covers the entire spectrum ofthe forest products industry from seed to tree, from production to sales. More than 1,500 have graduated from the course sinoe its inception in 1981, representing a broad cross section of the industry. The curriculum has evolved with the industry, now including areas such as technology and global trade.

Today, the Wood Basics Course provides companies with the best way to ensure that employees have the tools and knowledge to help them succeed. The course is an open to all-you don't have to be a NAWLA member. The next class is Sept. 8-11 at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Or. For more information or to register, visit www.nawla.org.