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Inside This Issue

• Willows and the Solvay beds in Syracuse
• Ontario - Quebec Field Tour
• Environmental Applications of Poplar and Willow
• Visit to Domtar operations, 15 June 2007
• Herbicides for poplar and willow

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Willows and the Solvay beds in Syracuse

Cees van Oosten
SilviConsult Woody Crops Technology Inc., Nanaimo, BC

This field trip during the IPC Montreal meeting in June 2007 took us to the Syracuse area of New York State where we viewed the Solvay waste beds and the role willow can play in solving a serious pollution problem.

What are Solvay waste beds?

The following description of the Solvay process was borrowed from Wikipedia: “The Solvay process, also referred to as the ammonia-soda process, has been the major industrial process used in the production of soda ash (sodium carbonate) for nearly 125 years”. “The ammonia-soda process was developed into essentially its modern form by Ernest Solvay in the 1860's. The ingredients for this process are readily available and inexpensive: salt brine (from inland sources or from the sea) and limestone (from mines)”

The area around Syracuse is rich in salt brine and limestone and was the basis for an industrial operation making soda ash from 1884 to 1986, using the Solvay process. It is used in the manufacture of many products, such as glass, paper, fibreglass, soap and medicines (among others). Every tonne of soda ash results in about 10,000 liters of liquid waste, containing 0.9 tonnes of CaCl2 and 0.45 tonnes of NaCl. This waste used to be dumped in settling ponds covering approximately 600 hectares; these ponds are 16-21 meters deep. Evaporation of water resulted in a chemical ‘solid pudding’-like substance with a pH 8 to 9.5 in the top layer and pH in excess of 11 lower down. When dried, the settling ponds resemble Utah salt flats, but much smaller in scale and certainly not as solid. The Solvay waste does not contain any organic material and has no structure, which does not favour plant growth.

A novel way to combat stream and lake pollution is to create an evapotranspiration surface that not only intercepts precipitation for evaporation, but also has the ability to extract water from the soil, preventing it from entering the groundwater. Willow offers such potential as an evapotranspiration surface, which is a cheaper and environmentally more benign alternative to a geomembrane cap.

Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solvay_process and field trip handouts

Willow – an effective evapotranspiration surface

Willow and poplar (including aspen) are the first woody species to establish naturally. The best species to deliver a fast cover is the willow. It has high growth rates, high transpiration rates and is tolerant of the harsh conditions of elevated levels of chloride and pH. Although growth is relatively poor on the Solvay waste bed soils, the willow survives and grows!

The key to success with willow is the selection of clones with low water use efficiency; i.e. willows that are water wasters and have a high transpiration rate. Willows also need to have a large amount of canopy to increase interception of precipitation in order to contribute to evaporation losses. For instance an R-4 (or rising-4, meaning in the 4th growing season) willow crop can have a leaf area index (LAI) of 5.

Due to the harshness of the Solvay waste bed soil, biosolids are incorporated to enhance the success of the planted shrub willows and any other weed vegetation that can also contribute to evapotranspiration. Biosolids provide soil structure, nutrients and improve water availability for the vegetation.

The first trial we visited was a waste bed amended with biosolids in 2004 and subsequently planted with four willow clones. This R-4 trial is where the researcher measures sapflow rates of individual willow stems ranging from 10 to 25 cm in diameter.

Cutting size – impact on biomass

The same trial contained a willow crop that was harvested in 2006 as a 3-year old crop.

Soil amendments

Growing willows on unamended soils of the Solvay waste beds does not produce significant volumes of feedstock and does not fulfill its role as an effective evapotranspiration surface. The trees survive, but do not grow very well. To ensure good productivity, the soils need to be amended with organic matter.

One trial showed the impact of seven different organic amendment treatments and a control applied to two different clones. The seven amendment treatments were various combinations of three biosolids sources (Anheuser Busch biosolids, yard waste and biosolids from a municipal waste water plant). The amendments were applied in the summer and fall of 2005 and the site was planted to two willow clones in May 2006, using 50 cm long cuttings. Each clone/amendment combination was replicated four times. To control weeds following planting, a combination of pre-emergent herbicides was used. Survival after one season was generally very high, except for amendments containing biosolids from the municipal waste water plant. Aboveground biomass production varied significantly between treatments and was clearly better than the control treatment. The only exception was treatment with an amendment containing biosolids from the municipal waste water plant. The possible reasons for this anomaly could have been poor mixing with the soil or insufficient breakdown prior to planting.

For additional sources of information, please refer to the following websites:
• www.nyfederation.org/PDF2005/16Daley.pdf
• http://clu-in.org/phytoconf/proceedings/2005/6B_Daley.pdf

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Ontario-Quebec Field Tour

Sabrina Morissette, ing.f.
Quebec Intensive Silviculture Network professional

On July 11th, on both sides of the Quebec-Ontario provincial border, there was a field tour to five hybrid poplar plantations and one plantation of hybrid larch and tamarack. The activity was organized jointly by the Quebec Intensive Silviculture Network (le Réseau Ligniculture Québec – http://www/unites.uqam.ca/rlq/), the NSERC-UQAT-UQAM Industrial Chair in sustainable forest management (http://web2.uqat.ca/cafd/) and the Forest Research Partnership (http://www.forestresearch.ca). About 20 people participated, including representatives from the Canadian Forest Service, industry and universities. The visits aimed to show the growth potential of hybrid poplar in the heart of the Clay-belt in Abitibi-Témiscamingue and north-east Ontario, while offering opportunities for networking amongst those interested in these types of plantation on both sides of the provincial boundary.

The participants then moved 40 km south to visit a new site at New Liskeard started in May 2007. The 3 ha experimental plot is on the ground of the University of Guelph agricultural research station and was established by the Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT) and the New Liskeard Agricultural Research Station. This represents the implementation of a new partnership between UQAT, Guelph University and the Northern College. The director of the research station, John Rowsell, briefly presented the history of the trial and then invited participants to wander around. The design includes three experimental blocks in which 18 clones have been planted. In fact, since 10 clones were available only as cuttings and in small numbers, these were planted in single rows of 10 plants. As for the 8 bare-root clones, they were established in single-clone blocks of 100 plants. In general, the establishment appeared to have been successful, but the plantation, scarcely 2 months old, was showing signs of crown dieback and several cuttings had not yet emerged from the soil. Annie DesRochers, scientist responsible for the project, therefore reassured the participants that plants with crown dieback would recover quickly enough following pruning in year 2. In regard to the cuttings, Mr. Rowsell attributed the slow growth to poor quality nursery stock. The growth and mortality data which will be collected this fall remain to be seen.

The participants then traveled to the opposite shore of Lake Temiskaming to return to Quebec territory and visit an experimental plot established in 2005 at Duhamel-Ouest. Annie DesRochers, scientist responsible for the trial, showed the very interested participants the results of adequate site preparation, frequent mechanical cultivation and spot fertilization since the plantation was established. She also explained that the Duhamel-Ouest plot is part of a group of three related sites arranged on a latitudinal gradient going as far as the Nord-du-Québec region with the objective of measuring the effect of different cultivation methods and evaluating the nutritional requirements of hybrid poplar. The site visited is the most southerly, the other two being located in the Teaching and Research Forest of Lac Duparquet and the municipality of Val-Paradis. The different cultivation methods are represented by three spacings (1m x 4m; 2m x 4m and 3m x 4m), and the nutritional requirements are determined using four fertilizer indices. Another objective of the study is to test the relationship between productivity and diversity using monoclonal and polyclonal blocks. To do this, four clones recommended for the region have been used and planted in single-clone (one clone per plot) and multi-clone (four clones randomly distributed throughout the block) blocks.

After a brief stop for lunch, the trip continued to another site established in 2007 at Saint-Eugène-de-Guigues. This time, hybrid larch and tamarack were the focus. After searching to pick out the 750 seedlings newly planted amongst very strongly competing ground vegetation, Annie DesRochers took the opportunity to explain that this was a ‘good’ example of the importance of good mechanical cultivation, particularly on an agricultural site. In fact, it was clear that the site needed a first mechanical cultivation which had been delayed for several reasons. Although there was little to see, Ms DesRochers spoke of the study objective which was to evaluate the productivity and adaptation of hybrid larch in the Témiscamingue region, while comparing its growth to that of the native tamarack.

The group then traveled to Angliers where they were able to visit a trial of hybrid poplar, white spruce and Norway spruce planted in 2002 on private land. Francine Tremblay, the scientist responsible for the project, presented the trial as well as the overall project of which it is a part. The Angliers site is part of a 35 ha project involving four sites intended to evaluate the productivity of different hybrid poplar clones as well as several families of improved white spruce and Norway spruce on sites with a good potential. This spring, the Norway spruce suffered serious damage due to a late frost. The inventory planned for this fall will show the survival rate and evaluate the growth of trees in the trial. For hybrid poplar, the results of the last remeasurement, done in 2005 showed the best performing clone to be a BxM hybrid (Populus balsamifera × P. maximowiczii), clone 915004.

Although the day had been pretty long, the curiosity of the participants was still strong and the group finally reached a site that had been optionally included in the schedule. The Nedelec site, established in 2003, has the distinction of including two different trials in a forest environment. To this point, all the sites visited had been planted on agricultural land, so Annie DesRochers showed the participants another alternative for planting poplars – the forest. The 3.5 ha site included a trial related to intra- and inter-specific competition, as well as a trial involving fertilization and plantation maintenance. While walking in the rain through these trials, the participants were able to listen to Annie DesRochers explaining the objectives of the two experiments.

Eventually, the participants, a bit wet but with heads filled with images of hybrid poplars in full growth, took the road home, some to Ontario and others to Abitibi-Témiscamingue. In the end, this field visit was declared an excellent opportunity for exchange among neighbours, providing a glimpse of more short or medium term interprovincial partnerships.

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Environmental Applications of Poplar and Willow

Jim Richardson, Annie Desrochers, Barb Thomas, Cees van Oosten

Introduction

Environmental applications of poplar and willow involve making use of certain particular qualities of those species to achieve specific environmental objectives while the crop is growing. The qualities of poplars and willows which are of particular interest include rapid growth, high nutrient uptake, uptake and tolerance of heavy metals, ability to grow in poor soil, rapidly developing and dense root structures, and ability to take up large quantities of water or, alternatively, to tolerate drought. Poplars and willows display these qualities very strongly compared to most other tree species. Examples of environmental applications of poplar and willow include buffer zones or riparian planting, phytoremediation, geoengineering, shelterbelts, urban and peri-urban forestry, bioenergy and others.

In June 2007 the International Poplar Commission Working Party on Environmental Applications of Poplar and Willow held a technical meeting in Montreal with field visits in the Montreal area as well as in Syracuse, New York. This issue of the Poplar Council of Canada Newsletter includes reports on the technical content of the meeting and field visits. Preparation of these reports was made possible by the contributions of members of the PCC Executive who participated in the event – Annie Desrochers, Jim Richardson, Barb Thomas and Cees van Oosten.

Background

The International Poplar Commission (IPC) is one of the technical statutory bodies on forestry of FAO, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Its aim is to promote the cultivation, conservation and utilization of members of the family Salicaceae, which includes poplars and willows. Established in 1947 with nine countries (including Canada), the IPC now comprises 37 member countries including developing and developed countries and countries with economies in transition. The IPC has had an important role in the development of national forest sectors, largely through the preparation of technical tools and the exchange of ideas and breeding materials. It is the only international forum that brings together managers, users and researchers of poplars and willows to discuss topics of common interest in a cross-disciplinary way.

The IPC carries out its mandate by supporting research and management activities through six Working Parties dealing with harvesting and utilization; diseases; insect pests; genetics, conservation and improvement; production systems; and environmental applications. These Working Parties explore issues of concern to member countries.

The Environmental Applications Working Party is the most recently-established one, having been first proposed at the 21st Session of the IPC in Portland, Oregon in September 2000 and formally ratified at the 22nd Session in Chile in November 2004. It developed due to the high and rapidly expanding level of interest in non-traditional systems of crop production involving objectives other than timber or fibre production alone. This included water quality protection by the use of riparian buffer zones, phytoremediation of industrially contaminated land and treatment of nutrient rich waste water.

The Working Party has met almost annually since it was initially proposed, with events in the UK, Sweden, Chile, Estonia, Northern Ireland and in 2007, for the first time in North America, in Montreal. The meeting in Montreal was organized very capably by Michel Labrecque, who is a scientist at the Institut de recherche en biologie végétale (IRBV - Plant Biology Research Institute).

IRBV, where the technical sessions took place, is located at the Montreal Botanic Garden, where Michel is a botanist and Head of Research and Scientific Development. Michel was assisted in the organization by Ion Teodorescu and a team of graduate students from the Université de Montréal with which IRBV is affiliated.

The full-day technical session included 14 oral presentations and a poster session with nine posters. Field visits in the Montreal area included an experimental and demonstration willow planting site on contaminated land in downtown Montreal, ‘living walls’ used as noise barriers in suburban Laval and Boisbriand, and a 7 ha willow plantation and nursery in the Municipality of Boisbriand. The group traveled by bus to Syracuse, NY where field visits were organized by the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry. These visits included the Solvay wastebeds project where the use of willow as an alternative ground cover is being studied, and the Tully Genetics Field Station, the site of the most intensive willow breeding and genetics program in North America, and the source of much of the willow material being used elsewhere in North America. On the return trip from Syracuse, a short stop was made to visit willow plantations and clonal trials near Huntingdon, Quebec. A total of 41 participants from eight different countries (in Europe, North America and Australia) took part.

Scientific and Technical Presentations

With the current strong increase in interest in bioenergy, short rotation culture of poplars and even more of willows is taking advantage of one of the leading environmental applications of these species. Two presentations described breeding programs for willows for energy uses. Ian Shield described a willow breeding program for the UK at Rothamsted Research near London, a program that is part of the Biomass for Energy Genetic Improvement Network (BEGIN) of the UK. The breeding program focuses on yield improvement, but is also investigating resistance to insects and diseases, and wood quality. Less than 0.1% of seedlings produced end up as registered varieties, a process which takes up to 11 years from initial breeding to registration. Kim Cameron presented the willow breeding program of the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry at Syracuse where a collection of over 300 Salix species is being used to develop cultivars with improved field and rust resistance. Yields of more than 22 t ha-1 have been produced.

Ryan Hangs described a new broad willow research program at the University of Saskatchewan established in response to the Saskatchewan government commitment to generate one-third of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030. The program looks at clonal selection, cultural practices, environmental impact on yield, diseases and pests, intercropping, greenhouse gas emissions, biogeochemical cycling and the rhizosphere microbial community, carbon sequestration, and developing a molecular fingerprint library. The Estonian government is also promoting short rotation forestry for bioenergy. Katrin Heinsoo of the University of Tallinn has investigated biological factors and non-technical barriers affecting short-rotation willow production in Estonia, the latter being equally if not more limiting than the former. The main obstacles are the inadequate supply of cuttings, lack of subsidies to establish plantations, lack of expertise and harvesting equipment, and low quality of planting stock. Cuttings often come out of storage visibly damaged by pathogens (bacteria) which can be an important limitation to willow plantations. Pajand Nejad of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences spoke of his work on pathogenic and ice nucleation active (INA) bacteria causing plant dieback in energy forestry plantations in Sweden and Estonia with studies ranging from assessment of the problem, through characterization and identification of the causal organisms to potential solutions.

Bioenergy use may be only one of several environmental applications of the same plantations. The BioReGen project in north-east England, described by Richard Lord of the Clean Environment Management Centre (CLEMANCE) of the University of Teesside, will demonstrate the feasibility of reclaiming brownfield sites to grow biomass energy crops at a commercial scale on a variety of contaminated sites. The sites were contaminated with a mixture of industrial and domestic waste materials. In Sweden, nitrogen-rich municipal wastewater is being used to irrigate large-scale short-rotation willow coppice energy plantations, with benefits of improved biomass productivity and reduced nitrogen outflows, as reported by Ioannis Dimitriou of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.

Alistair McCracken of the Agri-Food & Biosciences Institute in Northern Ireland described results from the application of wastewater from municipal wastewater treatment works to short-rotation poplar and willow. The rate of application was about 200 kg ha-1 of nitrogen, but there was no indication that any nutrients or metals were being washed into the ground water. The same author also presented results of applying raw sewage sludge cake by soil injection to growing crops of short-rotation willow. The lowest application rate (37t ha-1) produced greater dry matter yield than the control, but higher rates did not generally produce significantly greater yield increases. Treatment of the sludge with lime or cement dust may be necessary to kill pathogens and potential adverse effects due to the high pH of this treatment on willow growth will be monitored. In southern Quebec short-rotation poplar and willow plantations have been proposed as a means of treating effluents from aquaculture plants. Results from an early trial presented by Werther Guidi of IRBV suggested the plantings were over-irrigated with the effluent as shown by reduced biomass yield, but urea fertilization might in some cases positively affect growth and productivity.

Some of the most dramatic environmental benefits of using poplars and willows have been achieved in reclamation of industrial sites. Phytoremediation is the term used to describe the clean up, enhancement and revegetation of such contaminated sites with trees, shrubs or other vegetation. Jud Isebrands of New London, Wisconsin, used poplars (cottonwoods, hybrid poplars and aspen clones) on a former industrial site in Wisconsin contaminated with lead and a suite of hazardous volatile organic compounds. After two years, growth of several of the poplars was outstanding and water table levels and hazardous chemical levels were decreased. On the UK site described by Richard Lord, willow plantations gave good uptake of zinc, fairly good uptake of cadmium and some uptake of copper. While the zinc in the biomass could be considered a fuel contaminant in energy use, this could be managed by blending fuels. Angelo Massacci of the Istituto di Biologia Agro-Ambientale e Forestale del CNR in Italy presented work on identification of molecular functions and analytical descriptors involved in heavy metal uptake and translocation by poplar and willow. Amongst other findings, willow plants absorbed more cadmium per plant than poplar but maintained more of it in foliage than in roots. Andrej Pilipovic of the University of Novi Sad in Serbia investigated the potential of different poplar clones in phytoextraction of cadmium, nickel or lead. Highest concentrations of these elements reduced biomass production in plants. Nickel concentration was highest in foliage, lead in roots and cadmium in stems. In a pot trial at the Montreal Botanic Garden, Rosalie Lefebvre of IRBV looked at growth potential and heavy metal accumulation in poplar and willow. Willows had higher concentrations of analyzed heavy metals in foliage, stems and roots than poplars. Inoculation with arbuscular mycorrhizae had no effect on biomass production or heavy metal absorption.

Mauritz Ramstedt of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences described one case where willows, of several different clones, had a negative effect on the degradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in soil contaminated with creosote and diesel fuel. He suggested this was due to interference of root exudates from the willow plants which appeared to be a preferred carbon source – over diesel - for micro-organisms responsible for the degradation.

Jaconette Mirck of the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry spoke of her research on sap flow in three different willow varieties being used to develop an evapotranspiration cover for the Solvay wastebeds in the Syracuse, NY area. This work was featured in the field visits following the technical session in Montreal and is described in a separate article in this newsletter.

Willows used in riparian buffer plantings can provide a number of different benefits, not all of which are environmental, as shown by Julia Kuzovskina of the University of Connecticut. As well as effectively trapping run-off from fertilized agricultural fields, willow species with ornamental stems for winter-spring harvest can provide off-season farm income from the sale of things like living structures and mini-villages for children made from brightly coloured willow whips. This could be an engaging crop for youth, encouraging children’s involvement in learning basic agricultural practices. Frederic Pitre of Université Laval presented results of a molecular genetic study of the effect of nitrogen supply on poplar root metabolism, which showed that patterns of gene expression in roots of poplars are influenced by nitrogen supply.

In the temperate zones of Europe, Populus nigra and Populus alba have been very important components of natural floodplain forests, but P. nigra in particular is in very serious decline. Lorenzo Vietto of the Poplar Research Institute in Italy presented information on conservation efforts for river forests, including use of poplar and willow in riverbank restoration and gene conservation undertaken through the EUFORGEN Program.
Poplar plantations can provide significant benefits in terms of carbon sequestration. Terenzio Zenone of the University of Tuscia Viterbo in Italy and the European Commission Climate Change Unit reported on a major evaluation of carbon sequestration in traditional and short rotation coppice poplar plantations, using eddy correlation techniques to determine net ecosystem productivity in terms of carbon stored by the ecosystem. Results indicated a very good greenhouse gas balance for both types of plantation and different intensities of cultural inputs.

In other presentations, Werther Guidi of Scuola Superiore S. Anna in Pisa, Italy reported first-rotation results of poplar and willow short-rotation coppice response to fertilization in a lysimeter-based trial. Under fertilized conditions willow performed better than poplar. Annie Desrochers of the Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue spoke of the problem of stem dieback on newly-planted bare-root hybrid poplar in the Abitibi Region of Québec, where studies suggest that fertilization in the nursery prevents the trees from hardening before winter storage. Storage itself also seems to be a problem, since trees over-wintered outside in trenches did not develop stem dieback at planting, regardless of the fertilization regime. Finally Michel Labrecque presented an overview of the work of IRBV with willow for environmental applications in southern Quebec, work which was effectively illustrated in the succeeding field visits, described below.

Field Visits

Field visits associated with the meeting of the IPC Environmental Applications Working Party in Montreal all focused primarily on willows but in two widely separated regions – the Montreal Region and the area of Syracuse in upstate New York.

1. Montreal Region visits

The first stop was at a brownfield restoration site (Allée des Tanneries) next to the main Canadian National Railway tracks and the Lachine Canal close to downtown Montreal. Sediments extracted in dredging and enlarging the Canal at the end of the 19th century and deposited on the site contained a mixture of organic (mainly PAHs) and inorganic (copper, lead, zinc and arsenic) compounds, but the site is not considered heavily polluted. The first objective of the City of Montreal was to establish a visual screen between a residential area and the railway. This was created with two rows of poplar and willow plants in 2005.

Subsequently, a small experiment was established to compare the development and growth of willows and poplars on the site and their capacity for phytoremediation of the inorganic pollutants. Soil sampling was also undertaken. The work on this site is supported by the Green Municipal Fund of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, and has attracted considerable interest and participation from local residents who have established small garden plots on the site.

Close to this site is the Experimental Station of the Montreal Centre of Excellence in Brownfields Rehabilitation. This non-profit corporation, founded jointly by the City of Montreal, the Quebec government and the Federal government, provides interface services for major landowners facing especially complex contamination problems. It has supported a number of technology demonstration projects, and the experimental station has facilities which demonstrate innovative remediation solutions for contaminated sites. Phytoremediation using willows and other plant species is a preferred solution for the Centre.

2. Syracuse area visits

There were two distinct focuses for the field visits in the Syracuse area. One was the experimental trials of establishing willows on the Solvay wastebeds, described by Jaconette Mirck in the technical presentations in Montreal. That field visit is reported elsewhere in this newsletter.

The other visit was to the Tully Genetics Field Station of SUNY-ESF where field research on the genetic improvement of shrub willow as a dedicated energy crop, for phytoremediation and for other environmental applications was demonstrated. The willow breeding program at SUNY-ESF was initiated in the mid-1990s. Since then, more than 700 willow accessions representing over 20 species and hybrids have been assembled. Through breeding, researchers have produced about 200 families from more than 575 attempted controlled pollinations. Two different replicated genetic selection trials were visited. One, established in 2001 from individuals selected in an earlier family screening trial, included 16 clones from controlled crosses, four from natural stands and five reference varieties. Based on first-rotation harvest after three growing seasons, nine of the 16 clones produced through breeding produced greater biomass than the reference clones S. dascyclados ‘SV1’. A second trial established in 2002 included the top 15 individuals from the top four families after two seasons of growth in the first trial, as well as 22 other exceptional clones selected from eight other families, for a total of 82 new clones with four reference varieties. After the second two-year harvest rotation, the best clone had produced 21.9 odt ha-1 yr-1. Efforts are now underway to scale up production of the best clones for future trials.

3. Huntingdon area visit

Business Meeting

The IPC Working Party on Environmental Applications of Poplar and Willow held a short business meeting during the workshop in Montreal. In the absence of Working Party chair, Kurth Perttu of Sweden, the meeting was led by the vice-chair and technical secretary of the Working Party, Jud Isebrands of the USA and Drusilla Riddell-Black of the UK respectively. An overview of the history, mission and scope of the Working Party was presented. The website (www.fao.org/forestry/site/ipc/en) was considered to be a key resource and members of the Working Party were asked to contribute topic-specific case studies and relevant publications to be listed on the site. The poplar and willow publication being coordinated for FAO and IPC by Jim Richardson and Jud Isebrands was described. This includes a chapter on environmental applications of poplars and willows whose scope is similar to that of the Working Party.

Future meetings of the Working Party were discussed. The preference was for low cost, small meetings offering good opportunities for exchange of ideas and information. The next meeting will be held in the fall of 2008 in conjunction with the 23rd Session of the IPC in Beijing, China. Thereafter, it was suggested the Working Party might hold two meetings before the 24th Session of IPC. Nominations were invited for office bearers of the Working Party to be elected in 2008 in Beijing.

For further information on the Montreal workshop please contact Michel Labrecque (mlabrecque@jbmontreal.net). For further information on the IPC Working Party on Environmental Applications, visit its website at www.fao.org/forestry/site/ipc/en or contact the chair, Kurth Perttu (kurth.perttu@vpe.slu.se).

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Visit to Domtar operations, 15 June 2007

Cees van Oosten
SilviConsult Woody Crops Technology Inc., Nanaimo, BC

After attending the 10th North American Agroforestry conference in Quebec City in June 2007, a small group, consisting of Robin Woodward, Al Jurgens, Joanne Kowalski, Doug Currie, Jeremy Karwandy (all of the Saskatchewan Forest Centre) and Cees van Oosten (SilviConsult Inc. in B.C.), visited the forest operations of Domtar Inc. in Windsor (Quebec). Éric Lapointe, supervisor of silvicultural activities, and Raymond Vanier, superintendent – Forestry, hosted an excellent field trip on Friday the 15th of June 2007.

The Domtar-Windsor mill produces hardwood Kraft pulp for its fine paper production, utilizing the many hardwood species harvested on private and public lands in Quebec, New Brunswick and the US Northeast, augmented with residual chips from sawmills. Species include various maple and other hardwood species, yellow and white birch and poplar, including aspen. The paper mill uses a small proportion of softwood KRAFT (NBSK-northern bleached softwood KRAFT) with its longer fibre length to provide strength to the paper and produces ‘Domtar Windsor’ offset paper and ‘Domtar Copy’ photocopy paper. The first mill was originally built in 1859 and had been modernized several times until 1985 when a new modern mill was built on a larger site.

Domtar’s private woodlands comprise approximately 200,000 hectares and are certified under the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Silviculture operations include establishing and managing short rotation hybrid poplar crops on approximately 5% of the private forestland that is deemed suitable for hybrid poplar. These crops are growing on a planned 12-15 year rotation. Hybrid poplar KRAFT pulp has a longer fibre length than the traditionally used hardwoods and is easier to bleach. An important challenge for the future is to increase the hybrid poplar wood density for pulp production through advanced selection and breeding programs.

Quebec has a long and successful history in developing hybrid poplar programs and has had a breeding program for many years run by the Ministry of Natural Resources (Ministère des Ressources naturelles et de la Faune - MRNF). Many new hybrids have been created that were tested for resistance to various diseases, including Septoria stem canker (Septoria musiva). Hybrid poplar planting stock is grown at Government nurseries and is distributed to various landowners who manage their private lands under a management plan.

Forest companies like Domtar contribute to a provincial forest fund that pays for the stock; small landowners can get the trees for free, as long as their land is managed under an approved management plan.

Some rising-10 (R-10: in their 10th growing season) trials established and maintained through the MRNF near the Domtar mill are located on farmland and show very promising growth.

Very few poplar growers contemplate establishing poplar plantations on private farmland. One of the main reasons is that transfer of farmland to tree crops is regulated in Quebec and the practice is strongly discouraged; agricultural land is protected for crops through the ‘Loi sur la protection du territoire et des activités agricoles, ou zonage agricole’. Authorization from the department of Agriculture for planting trees is difficult to obtain, all the more so since there is an increased demand for land by hog farms to safely dispose of hog manure. Quebec regulations currently discourage disposal on treed land (or forestland) of mill sludges, various biosolids, manures and effluents from various sources. In other regions of North America this practice is actually increasingly encouraged and hybrid poplar crops planted on farmland would lend themselves very well to this practice due to the systematic layout that enable manure spreaders, effluent tanks and irrigation equipment to be incorporated in crop management. Growth of hybrid poplars is enhanced by the addition of these products. Domtar is especially interested in utilizing mill sludges as an organic supplement to the soils in hybrid poplar crops and is conducting trials to collect data that could eventually convince the regulatory authorities to allow such practice. Currently the mill sludge is buried in landfills.

This has been a proven method for Scott Paper Limited for several years in British Columbia and Domtar is now also using this successfully. To take advantage of the site preparation, large rooted sets are planted to 30-40 cm depth. To start the crop off, 250 grams of chemical fertilizer is placed in the rootzone with a planting shovel. Various fertilizer formulations have been tested. This is also a practice used by Scott Paper Limited in B.C. with good success. Domtar is contemplating testing unrooted whips of a similar size in an effort to reduce costs. The success of unrooted whips depends on the clone used, the available soil moisture and soil temperature at time of planting. The site preparation method used here accomplished several objectives: ease of planting large stock, increased soil volume for the tree roots, increased soil temperature in the spring, improved drainage and effective weed control for the first two growing seasons.

Our last visit was to a research trial established to assess the effect of improved drainage on a cleared forest site near the mill. The impact of ditch spacing at various intervals on drainage and growth performance is monitored, as well as various levels of liming and fertilization. Preliminary results indicate that trees placed closest to the ditches show improved growth after the first two growing seasons. The test is done with three different clones.

We thank Éric and Raymond for a very interesting day and wish the company every success in its efforts to manage hybrid poplar.

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Herbicides for poplar and willow

Cees van Oosten
Président, Groupe de travail sur les herbicides, Conseil du peuplier du Canada

The Herbicide Working Group (HWG) of the Poplar Council of Canada (PCC) has been hard at work for its members to obtain minor use registrations for the use of registered herbicides in short-rotation-intensive-culture (SRIC) poplar crops in Canada. For an update on the year’s activities (2006-2007) please view the report on this site (click here)

Herbicides currently registered for poplar and willow

Currently there are 13 herbicides registered for poplar; five have the active ingredient (a.i.) glyphosate and can either be used in site preparation or in a shielded application to control actively growing weeds in an actively growing poplar or willow crop.

Table 1. Herbicides currently registered for poplar and willow
Updated: 13 Aug 07

• Eight herbicides are registered for ‘poplar’ (plantations) or ‘SRIC poplar’ (crops). SRIC stands for ‘short-rotation-intensive-culture’ and refers to poplar (or willow) grown as agronomic crops on farmland.
• Five herbicides (a total of two active ingredients) are registered for poplar nurseries (three) or stoolbeds (two). The herbicides for stoolbeds are restricted for use from the 2nd year on only and may not be as useful.
• There are six herbicides registered for willow, five of which are glyphosate herbicides.

The only pre-emergent herbicide currently registered for poplar and willow (plantations) is Casoron G-4. The restriction is that it be applied when trees are established for one year (read one growing season) and must be applied to clean ground to be effective. For that reason, it may not be as useful for the poplar or willow crop grower; it is an expensive herbicide.

Herbicides approved for poplar pending final label

In July 2007 the Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) of Health Canada approved five new herbicides for SRIC poplar (crops). The revised labels need to be filed and registered with PMRA before these products can legally be used by SRIC poplar crop growers.

Table 2 - Herbicides approved for poplar pending final label
Updated: 13-Aug-07

As of the 13th of August 2007, the revised labels have yet to be filed with PMRA; this is expected to be complete soon. To check, it would be best for the prospective user to access the product search site of PMRA (www.pmra-arla.gc.ca/english/main/search-e.html) by choosing ‘Option 2’, then select -- Select Field -- and choose ‘Registration Number’ and enter the PCP number that can be found in Table 2 (or 1 or 3) for the product to start the search. This will yield the electronic label access.

**Note that one product, Lorox L, has the restriction for use in Western Canada only. The reason for this is that it is already registered for use in poplar in a shelterbelt setting in ‘Western Canada’ only. Lorox L was approved for SRIC poplar on the basis that its use be restricted to Western Canada as well.

Herbicides applied for under URMULE for poplar and/or willow

Two new herbicides were applied for under the URMULE process (User Requested Minor Use Label Expansion) of PMRA.

Table 3 - Herbicides applied for under URMULE for poplar and/or willow
Updated: 13-Aug-07

The herbicide Goal 2XL is a pre-emergent herbicide to be applied at or around the time of planting. It is applied just before planting unrooted or rooted dormant stock, or immediately after planting while the crop is still dormant. It requires rain or irrigation to be activated. It is a contact herbicide that prevents germination of weed seeds. The herbicide does not control already established perennial weeds. For the herbicide to be most effective, it needs to be applied to clean ground that is free of debris, weeds and large soil clods.

The results of field trials completed in 2006 were submitted to PMRA last March. An approval decision from PMRA is not expected before the end of 2007. Hopefully the herbicide will be available before the growing season in 2008.

This herbicide would also be effective in the management of an SRIC willow crop. There have been no requests from any willow growers to obtain a label expansion for willow. Should there be interest among willow growers in light of the potential for SRIC willow energy (biomass) crops, the Herbicide Working Group recommends to wait with an URMULE process till the product is registered for SRIC poplar.

The second herbicide Flumioxazin is also a pre-emergent herbicide and is expected to act similarly to Goal 2XL under similar conditions. It also has post-emergent capabilities. Both uses were applied for in the URMULE and the HWG requested that SRIC willow also be added to the proposed label. The application will be submitted in the fall of 2007, pending registration of the active ingredient in Canada.

Field trials are tentatively scheduled for the spring of 2008 in Alberta, Saskatchewan (probably 2 trials) and southern Ontario. The trials will be funded through Agriculture and AgriFood Canada (AAFC) and will be managed through its Pest Management Centre (PMC) in Ottawa. Only the poplar portion is funded through AAFC. Willow was added to the proposed label only after some enquiries from a willow researcher.

What about willow?

To date the HWG has concentrated on Populus species (including poplars, aspens and various hybrids, collectively called ‘poplar’) as the membership of the HWG mainly consists of organizations involved with poplar. There have been no requests from the willow community to have the HWG include willow in its quest for new herbicides.

In order to justify adding willow to the HWG mandate, it is important that new HWG members be added with the funding to expand the mandate. The field trials and the URMULE process come at a price. Two of the recent URMULES for Lontrel 360 and Goal 2XL were made possible only as a result of field trials established at and paid for by individual members of the HWG. A similar effort is required for willow. If there is interest in seeing an expansion of the HWG mandate to include willow, please contact Cees van Oosten – Chair HWG at silviconsult@telus.net.

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Last edit: 2008-05-20