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Forest Products Laboratory
One Gifford Pinchot Drive
Madison, WI 53726-2398
Phone: (608) 231-9200
Fax: (608) 231-9592
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Contact:Rebecca Wallace
(608) 231-9275
E-mail: rwallace@fs.fed.us		 Distributed April 11, 2011
NR # 20110411-01
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Earth Day Open House at USDA Forest Products Laboratory featuring Aldo Leopold documentary "Green Fire"
 
Madison, Wis.- The USDA Forest Service Forest Products Laboratory (FPL) is hosting an open house on Friday, April 22, 2011, from 9:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. We invite the public to tour the facilities, meet the scientists, and learn about the historic past and promising future of the Nation's only federal wood research laboratory.  
Highlights of the Open House include:
  • Free showings of the critically acclaimed documentary "Green Fire: Aldo Leopold and a Land Ethic for Our Time". Showings at 10 a.m. and 12 p.m.
  • Tours of the new Centennial Research Facility
    • This 87,000-square-foot building allows scientists to test full-scale wood-framed buildings, formulate new environmentally friendly wood preservatives, develop composite products from waste materials, and conduct testing in a one-of-a-kind weather simulator.
  • Tours of the Research Demonstration House and Carriage House
    • This 2,300-square-foot house and adjacent carriage house allow researchers to conduct housing-related studies in a real-world setting and serves as a showcase for alternative technologies in housing.
  • Meet scientists and learn about current and historic work
    • Displays include research on bats for Major League Baseball, studies on historic structures like the USS Constitution, developing panels made from cow manure, breakthroughs made over the past 100 years, and many more.
  • Free wood identification service
    • Bring objects smaller than a chair or samples (ideally at least 1/2"x3"x6") for species identification by an FPL botanist
  • Kids activities, handouts, and prizes
    • Wood "magic show", termites and other insects, papermaking, meet Smokey Bear and Woodsy Owl, etc.

The USDA Forest Service Forest Products Laboratory was established in 1910 in Madison, Wisconsin, with the mission to conserve and extend the country's wood resources. Today, FPL's research scientists work with academic and industrial researchers and other government agencies in exploring ways to promote healthy forests and clean water and improve papermaking and recycling processes. Through FPL's Advanced Housing Research Center, researchers also work to improve homebuilding technologies and materials. Information is available at FPL's Web site: http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us

USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer and lender. To file a complaint of discrimination, write: USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Ave., S.W., Washington, D.C. 20250-9410 or call (800) 795-3272(voice), or (202) 720-6382 (TDD). # # #