Site index (SI) is a measurement commonly used by foresters to describe the productivity of a site. Typically this measurement is used to describe sites growing well-stocked even-aged forests. Site index is the average height of the dominant1 and codominant2 trees on the site, at a given age (base age). Typically, the base age for hardwoods and white pine in Virginia is 50 years, while the base age for loblolly pine is 25 years. For example, a SI of 75, base age 50, means that the average height of the dominant and codominant trees on a site will be 75 feet when they are 50 years old (SI50=75). The higher the SI, the higher the site productivity (trees will grow faster than on a site with a lower SI).

Lean thinking is a process focused on increasing the value added to products and services and the reduction of waste. The term “lean,” coined by Womack during one of his visits to the Japanese carmaker Toyota in the early 1980s (Womack and Jones 2003), has become the universally accepted term for increasing value and reducing waste.

Lumber is usually dried to a specific moisture content prior to further manufacturing or use. The amount of water in wood is usually expressed as moisture content and can be directly measured or calculated. The moisture content of wood is defined as the ratio of the weight of water in wood to the dry weight of the wood material. While lumber can be air-dried, the humidity in most localities prevents the lumber from reaching the moisture content required for the stability needed for interior use. A dry kiln is required to dry lumber to the necessary final moisture content and does so fairly rapidly. This publication discusses the design and operation of a solar-heated lumber dry kiln that is designed to be inexpensive to construct and simple to operate.

The structure of forest products companies has changed dramatically in recent years. The 1990s have seen escalating importance attached to customer satisfaction, quality, market niches, value-added products, and strategic alliances.

The structure of forest products companies has changed dramatically in recent years. The 1990s have seen escalating importance attached to customer satisfaction, quality, market niches, value-added products, and strategic alliances.

Utilization of woody biomass for energy has increased substantially in Virginia. While there are a number of definitions for biomass, woody biomass from forest harvesting operations typically refers to logging residues such as limbs, tops, and other unmerchantable material that would otherwise be left behind on-site after the logging operation is complete. Logging residues are typically chipped and then transported to facilities where they are used for fuel. Biomass harvesting in Virginia most commonly occurs on integrated harvesting operations where roundwood and biomass are harvested and utilized at the same time in a single operation.

Protection of water quality is a critical component of forest harvesting operations. Virginia’s silvicultural water quality law (§10.1-1181.1 through 10.1-1181.7) prohibits excessive sedimentation of streams as a result of silvicultural operations. Virginia’s logging businesses invest substantial resources implementing BMPs to protect water quality. The Virginia Department of Forestry (VDOF) is responsible for enforcing this law and inspects all logging operations to ensure protection of water quality.

Many forest owners value their forest for wildlife habitat, recreation, and aesthetics. Given accurate information, many want to manage their woodlot using sound silviculture but clear-cutting as a regeneration method may not be visually acceptable. While a profitable timber harvest is of interest, a visually pleasing residual stand may be more important. To meet this objective, Stand D1 of the SVAREC forests was selected to demonstrate All-Age Management using group selection silviculture and individual thinning of select trees to create four age classes.

Most forest owners value their forest for wildlife habitat, recreation and aesthetics. Given accurate information, they may manage their woodlot to achieve these and other goals using sound silviculture. Thinning over-stocked woodlots is one silvicultural management tool. Thinning can modify spacing and diversity of species to meet desired goals which may include timber, wildlife, aesthetics and more. Thinning also improves woodlot vigor by removing over-mature, suppressed, defective or weakened trees. To meet theses objective, Stand D2 was selected for a thinning research & demonstration site.

Welcome to the inaugural Virginia Tech-U.S. Forest Service housing commentary. The goal of this commentary is to provide users with relevant data, straightforward analysis, and information about the United Sates housing market.

The Current Market segment contains information on status of the housing market as of August 2105’s end. Also included is a slide on lending; and private and government indicators. The Current market August 2105 section includes analysis by Dr. Jed Kolko, formerly chief economist with Trulia and who is now a consultant. He also is Senior Fellow with the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at the University of California-Berkley. In these slides he provides information on the composition of house sales; single-family rentals; household formation, and vacancies.

The Demographic & Economics section includes information on incomes; employment; gross domestic product; United States and global economies; and demographics.

The US economy is relatively sheltered from the storms of the global economy. Exports accounted for just 14 percent of GDP in 2014, which is substantially less than most developed countries. But continued weakness abroad may have an impact on the United States

In August, aggregate monthly housing data, based on a month-over-month comparison, were decidedly negative. Total housing permits, new SF starts, and new private SF construction spending were and are problematic –in August they all were negative on a year-over-year basis. New single-family sales appear to be reverting to their recent average. In the expenditures category, private new single-family spending has decreased monthly since March. The October 7th Atlanta Fed GDPNow™ model projects residential investment spending, in Q3, to decrease at a 7.7 percent rate1(SAAR). Regionally, data were mixed across all sectors.

In August, aggregate monthly housing data, based on a month-over-month comparison, were decidedly negative. Total housing permits, new SF starts, and new private SF construction spending were and are problematic –in August they all were negative on a year-over-year basis. New single-family sales appear to be reverting to their recent average. In the expenditures category, private new single-family spending has decreased monthly since March. The October 7th Atlanta Fed GDPNow™ model projects residential investment spending, in Q3, to decrease at a 7.7 percent rate1(SAAR). Regionally, data were mixed across all sectors.

In September, aggregate monthly housing data, based on a month-over-month comparison, were decidedly positive. Only housing starts and completions, were negative on a month-over-month and year-over-year basis. New single-family sales have edged lower for the past two-months. In the expenditures category, private new single-family spending increased for the first time since March; though keep in mind this was reported on a nominal basis. The November 9th Atlanta Fed GDPNow™ model projects residential investment spending, in Q4, to decrease at a -4.9 percent seasonally adjusted annual rate1. Regionally, data were mixed across all sectors.

In October, aggregate monthly housing data, based on a month-over-month comparison, were decidedly positive. New housing starts rebounded sharply from September. Yet, new single-family house sales were negative on a month-over-month and single-family construction spending was negative year-over-year. New single-family sales have been mixed for the past few months. The December 9th Atlanta Fed GDPNow™ model projects aggregate residential investment spending to increase at a 10.7 percent seasonally adjusted annual rate; new residential investment spending was estimated to rise 12.4 percent; and improvements were projected to increase 4.3 percent in 2016.1 Regionally, data were mixed across all sectors.

The GDPNow model forecast for real GDP growth (seasonally adjusted annual rate) in the fourth quarter of 2016 is 2.6 percent on December 9, unchanged from December 6. The forecast of the contribution of inventory investment to fourth-quarter growth decreased from 0.46 percentage points to 0.42 percentage points after this morning's wholesale trade report from the U.S. Census Bureau

In November, aggregate monthly housing data were mixed. Overall permits declined month-over-month and year-over-year and single-family permits declined month-over-month. New single-family house construction spending improved minimally on a month-over-month basis and year-over-year basis. The January 13th Atlanta Fed GDPNow™ model projects aggregate residential investment spending increased at a 9.2 percent (seasonally adjusted annual rate); new residential investment spending was estimated at 9.5 percent; and improvements were projected 3.4 percent in 2016 (based on December 16 data).1Regionally, data were mixed across all sectors.

The GDPNowmodel forecast for real GDP growth (seasonally adjusted annual rate) in the fourth quarter of 2016 is 2.8 percent on January 13, down from 2.9 percent on January 10. The forecast of fourth-quarter real personal consumption expenditures growth ticked down from 2.6 percent to 2.5 percent after this morning's retail sales report from the U.S. Census Bureau.” –Pat Higgins, Economist, The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta

In December 2016, aggregate monthly housing data were mixed. Overall permits declined month-over-month and in creased minimally year-over-year. Single-family permits declined month-over-month. New single-family house construction spending improved minimally on a month-over-month basis and year-over-year basis. The February 9th Atlanta Fed GDPNow™ model projects aggregate residential investment spending to increase at a 5.3 percent seasonally adjusted annual rate in Quarter 1; new residential investment spending was estimated at 10.2 percent; and improvements were projected 3.3 percent.1 Regionally, data were mixed across all sectors.

The GDPNowmodel forecast for real GDP growth (seasonally adjusted annual rate) in the first quarter of 2017 is 2.7 percent on February 9, unchanged from February 7. The forecast for the contribution of inventory investment to first-quarter growth remained at -0.25 percentage points after this morning's wholesale trade report from the U.S. Census Bureau.” –Pat Higgins, Economist, The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta

In April 2017, in aggregate, monthly housing data were decidedly negative on a month-over-month basis. Total and single-family (SF) permits and starts declined; yet SF starts increased. New SF and existing sales, and completions also decreased. Observing unadjusted data; permits, starts, and new SF sales were similar to April 2016. In fact, SF starts and new SF unadjusted sales were greater than April 2016. New SF house construction spending increased minimally month-over-month. Regionally, data were mixed across all sectors. The June 13thAtlanta Fed GDPNow™ model projects aggregate residential investment spending to increase at a 5.8 percent seasonally adjusted annual rate for Quarter 2; both new residential investment and improvements spending were projected to increase (7.6 and 3.0 percent, respectively). All declined from Q1’s estimate.

The GDPNowmodel forecast for real GDP growth (seasonally adjusted annual rate) in the second quarter of 2017 is 3.0 percent on June 9, down from 3.4 percent on June 2. The forecast for second-quarter real GDP growth fell from 3.4 percent to 3.1 percent on June 5 after the U.S. Census Bureau's manufacturing report and the incorporation of motor vehicle sales estimates released by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis on the prior business day. The forecast of the contribution of inventory investment to second-quarter growth declined from 0.87 percentage points to 0.77 percentage points after this morning's wholesale trade report from the Census Bureau.

The aggregate U.S. housing market hit a stumbling block in May, as most monthly indicators were negative on a month-over-month basis. However, on a year-over-year basis, the majority were positive, with the exception of total permits and starts. Problematic is construction spending, as single-family, multifamily, and improvement expenditures were negative on a month-over-month basis. These sub-sectors bear watching, as the continuation of this pattern may indicate a slowdown in the housing market. Regionally, data were mixed across all sectors. The July 11thAtlanta Fed GDPNow™ model projects aggregate residential investment spending to decrease at a -1.0% percent seasonally adjusted annual rate. New private housing was estimated to decline -2.5% and improvement spending was projected to increase 1.6% in Quarter 2. All declined from Q1’s forecasts.