16A.32
C, N - The Rural Technology Initiative; A Pilot Program for Technology Transfer to Rural Forest Communities
Bruce Lippke, University of Washington, College of Forest Resources, Seattle, WA; and L. Mason
The disparity in personal income between urban areas and rural Washington timber communities increased by 66% in less than two decades. While urban areas are growing with new technologies, rural areas are not. The ability to manage forests for increasingly complex wood product and environmental values is dependent upon new technologies. Without a system to transfer emerging technologies to rural forestry professionals, financial and educational gaps between our cities and towns can be expected to widen further. Without a stable rural infrastructure to contribute stewardship services, broader goals of social and environmental sustainability are likely to become unachievable.
During the Congressional session of 1999, elected officials responded to requests from rural constituents for help. In January of 2000, the Rural Technology Initiative (RTI) was established as a partnership between the University of Washington College of Forest Resources and Washington State University Cooperative Extension Department of Natural Resource Sciences with the mission: to aid in the transfer of technology for managing forests for increased forest products and environmental values in support of rural forest-resource based communities.
A network and service system of trainers and users with a focus on access and communication between technologies and rural people has been created. Solutions to problems created by salmon listings in the Pacific northwest, for example, are being supported with intensive training in managing riparian areas and use of forestry equipment in those areas, including specialized logging machinery, remote sensing devices, use of computer inventory tools, along with landscape management plans, financial analysis, planning packages and product marketing. Broader capabilities to empower non-industrial forestland owners and tribes with the technical support to undertake planning and implementation of certification, habitat conservation, carbon sequestration, and other sophisticated resource strategies are underdevelopment. After two years of activities the Rural Technology Initiative is becoming regarded as the science and technology arm of Washington’s rural forested communities.
Session 16A, Other
Wednesday, 9 October 2002, 1:30 PM-1:30 AM
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