Forest Products Laboratory

The Forest Products Laboratory (FPL) is the national research laboratory of the United States Forest Service, which is part of USDA. Since its opening in 1910, the FPL has provided scientific research on wood, wood products and their commercial uses in partnership with academia, industry, tribal, state, local and other government agencies. The laboratory is headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin. The focus of the Forest Products Laboratory is to promote healthy forests and forest-based economies through the efficient, sustainable use of the Nation's wood resources.

By the late 1800s, awareness was growing that timber resources were finite and careful use could extend them. In 1887 B.E. Fernow, chief of the Division of Forestry in the Department of Agriculture reported:

The properties upon which the use of wood, its technology, are based, should be well known to the forest manager if he wishes to produce a crop of given quality useful for definite purposes. Our ignorance of this direction has been most fruitful in fostering a wasteful use of our natural forests, and the same ignorance misleads even the forest planter of today in choosing the timber he plants and the locality to which he adapts it. How the Black Walnut has been sacrificed for fence material, how the valuable Chestnut Oak has rotted in the forests unused, how the Hemlock has been despised and passed by when it might have been successfully used to lengthen the duration of White Pine supplies, how timbers are now used in unnecessarily large sizes and applied to uses for which they are not adapted, while other timbers are neglected for uses for which they are adapted --- all these unfortunate misapplications are or have been due to lack of knowledge of the technological properties of our timbers.

Between 1890 and 1910 research into timber management and reforestation was scattered across various U.S. universities. Research into the mechanical properties of various woods was done at Purdue and universities in Washington, California, Oregon and Colorado. Yale hosted studies on preservation and kiln drying. An experimental pulp mill was at Boston, along with studies of wood chemistry and preservation.

The Forest Products Laboratory was conceived of in 1907 by McGarvey Cline, chief of the U.S. Forest Service Office of Wood Utilization. Cline saw the need for a centralized research facility in order to improve coordination among regional research centers. Along with Forest Service Chief Gifford Pinchot, Cline selected the University of Wisconsin campus as the site for this new laboratory because Madison had good access to rail lines, was close to timber resources, and the UW had a good reputation for scientific research.

In 1910 the Forest Products building at 1509 University Avenue (now Materials Science and Engineering Building) was completed, housing 45 researchers in eight divisions: Timber Physics, Timber Testing, Pulp and Paper, Wood Preservation, Wood Chemistry, Wood Distillation, Wood Engineering, and Pathology. Raphael Zon's advocacy of research led to the organization of the first Federal Forest Experiment Stations and the Forest Products Laboratory under the Branch of Research, which was formed in 1915.

The lab's work grew and in 1919 there was already a proposal for a new facility. It was finally funded in 1928. The UW provided 10 acres (4.0 ha) on the west end of campus and the Forest Service built the new lab in 1931 and 1932. The building was designed by Holabird and Root of Chicago in International Style, reflected in the absence of ornament, the ribbon windows, and the corner windows. The building's footprint is U-shaped, with the central block six stories tall. Inside, the lobby floor is terrazzo and the doors and wood trim are stained and varnished American Walnut. The second floor is trimmed in white and red oak, the third in chestnut, the fourth in clear birch, and the fifth in redgum. Low annexes were added to the main lab building in 1935 and in the 1950s, and various detached outbuildings have been added over the years, like the 1934 Fire Test Building.

Research at the FPL has improved quality of life for nearly every American by facilitating breakthroughs in housing, packaging, recycling, and conservation of forest resources. Specifically, researchers at the FPL developed particle board, glued laminated wood, the laminated arch, pulp paper processes, and fiberboard boxes, and wood crates. The FPL has also made numerous important contributions to the country during its history, including crucial research for the armed forces during times of war.