Celebrate Forest Products Month with Your Students! | |
Governor Evers designated the third week of October as Wisconsin Forest Products Week to recognize the value of forest products and commit to conservation practices that help responsibly manage forests in our state. This week celebrates the role and impact of forests and wood as an integral component to our society. | |
Wisconsin Forest Products Innovation for Every Discipline!
Have you ever looked up at a beautiful arched ceiling and wondered how the builders got those large wooden beams to bend so perfectly? Chances are, the beams you were looking at were actually engineered from a mass timber product called glulam.
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Like many forest products, engineered mass timber has a rich history in the state of Wisconsin. The first commercial building in the United States to use an early form of glulam was the Peshtigo High School gymnasium, built in 1934. Since then, innovation in design and materials has continued to push the boundaries of what wood can do. Products like glulam and CLT combine the beauty and sustainability of wood with the strength of steel, allowing architects and builders to build longer and taller. | |
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Engineered mass timber products are produced in Wisconsin facilities like Timber Technologies of Colfax and Sentinel Structures of Peshtigo, on the site of the original facility that created the glulam beams used in the high school gym so many years back. In Milwaukee, the world’s tallest wooden skyscraper opened to residents this summer; at 25 stories high, the Ascent Building surpassed the recent record for the tallest mass timber building by seven stories. The USFS Forest Products Lab in Madison assisted with testing and completing burn tests on the building’s glulam columns before construction.
The Forest Products Lab will continue to complete life cycle assessments on the Ascent Building, measuring the environmental impact of the structure over time. In the field of mass timber construction, Wisconsin continues to play a leading role.
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Ascent Building
(Milwaukee)
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Mass timber skyscrapers, domed roofs, and the products used to build these impressive structures can easily serve an educational role in the K-12 classroom. For teachers who adhere to the NGSS or Wisconsin Standards for Science, this topic is full of connections to real-life Science and Engineering Practices, as well as the engineering-focused DCIs. How was the design of the original Peshtigo High School gym’s glulam beams different from how we build with glulam today, and what role did Wisconsin scientists play in making that change? (Hint: read this great article!) | |
Do you have an idea for how to integrate Wisconsin-made engineered wood products into your curriculum? If so, drop us a line at leaf@uwsp.edu. | |
Lessons and Kits for Forest Products Month | |
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Delve into forest products with hands-on activities about forest products, processing, and related careers. LEAF's Forest Products kit is available to borrow from 11 host sites statewide for free.
What's Inside?
Reserve LEAF's Forest Products Kit
Forest Products is a bundle of three lessons made to use in a series, or independently. While using them with the LEAF Forest Products Kit is recommended, they can be used without the kit. Each lesson includes a teacher guide, a slideshow presentation of the lesson, and all necessary student documents:
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Students will create an independent research project that tracks a forest product from its origin to finished material, learning about the significance of Wisconsin's timber industry, related careers, and the impact of climate change upon Wisconsin forest products.
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Discover the wonders of Wisconsin woods through inquiry-based learning about wood density and wood identification. All materials are included with our Forest Products Kit.
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Forest Products Lessons: High School Forestry Scope and Sequence
The Forest Products unit in our High School Forestry Scope and Sequence, written by Wisconsin teachers, includes curriculum maps, PowerPoint presentations, lessons, and other useful resources.
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Careers in the Forest Products Industry | |
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Forest Industry Career Pathways
WFC Workforce Innovation Grant
| Innovative forest products require innovative career pathways - which is where LEAF stepped in as a partner to the $8 million Forest Industry Workforce Recruitment and Development Initiative. K-12 teacher training, an applied high school forestry curriculum, and immersion training programs are in the works, led by our colleagues at the Wisconsin Forestry Center. | |  |
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Paper Sciences Laboratory
UWSP Paper Science Engineering
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The UWSP Paper Sciences program is a leader in undergraduate paper processing and engineering education, with a 100% employment rate upon graduation. Introduce students to in-demand careers through our Track that Product lesson, as they learn about the forest products industry!
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Customized Professional Development | | |
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Did you know that LEAF offers customized
in-services for schools? LEAF staff can help educators become more comfortable using your school grounds for teaching and learning, maximize the resources of your school forest, and everything in between.
For more information about customized PD from LEAF, contact Nicole at Nicole.Filizetti@uwsp.edu.
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Current Professional Development Opportunities
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Have questions or need additional resources? Contact us at leaf@uwsp.edu. We are here to support educators and students with forestry opportunities. | |
Published for October 2022 | | | | | |
