The Rural Technology Initiative ceased operations in 2011. This site is maintained as an archive of works from RTI collaborators from 2000 to 2011 and is no longer updated. RTI's successor and remaining staff can be found at NRSIG.org

Click to go to the Precision Forestry Cooperative website

Current RTI Projects and Case Studies

Here are some projects summaries that cover much of the work RTI is currently responsible for. These are areas that the Advisory Board identified as needing attention.

Alternate Plan Templates for Riparian Zones: a central location for alternate plan templates information.
Biodiversity and Intensive Even-Aged Forest Management: a new approach to create management templates to help landowners successfully meet both economic and biodiversity goals.

DNR Timber Sales: An examination of the Washington Department of Natural Resources timber sale program against a backdrop of changing regional infrastructure and growing forest health crisis.
Economagic: A Learning Module for Demystifying Forest Economics - The core of the learning process for this module is a series of targeted, interactive lessons that progressively build on principles and applications of forest economics. Click here to go to the Economagic web page (this site is outside of the RTI website, and requires a free registration).

Fire Reduction and Small Diameter Timber: shows the importance of thinning for reducing the risk of fires and determines market potential for the small diameter wood derived from thinning. We also have constructed a forest fire behavior page that is full of information about the characteristics of forest fires.
- More of this research can be found in Heather Rogers' Masters Thesis.

Bremerton Public Works and Utilities land

Forest Management Strategies for Bremerton Public Works and Utilities (PW&U): This project will provide PW&U with accurate forest stand information to best manage the forest resource on a sustainable basis for water protection, revenue production, and water production within specified constraints into the future.

Thinned forest stand

Mountains through the trees

Aerial View

The Future of Washington Forests and Forestry Industries: The Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has requested a proposal to conduct several studies in response to the State Legislature’s request for a report on the future of Washington forests. This report is to examine the economic, recreational, and environmental trends influencing the forest land owners, forest products industry and secondary manufacturing sectors in Washington State.
Washington's Resource Lands

Washington State Forest Land Database: To better understand where family forests are located and who owns them, the Rural Technology Initiative at the University of Washington, the Family Forest Foundation, and the Washington Farm Forestry Association, with funding from the USDA Forest Service, are creating a statewide parcel-based forest land database.
Quantifying the Geography of Forest Lands in Washington State: Since 2001 the Rural Technology Initiative in partnership with Washington State government, conservation organizations and forestry foundations has been seeking an understanding of the geography and demographics of forest lands and forest landowners in Washington State.
WRIA Analysis for Stream Enchancement: the Rural Technology Initiative in partnership with Washington State government, conservation organizations and forestry foundations has been seeking an understanding of the geography and demographics of forest lands and forest landowners in Washington State.

Western Washington Land Use Change: In 2004, the USDA Forest Service's Forest Inventory Analysis (FIA) program contracted with the Rural Technology Initiative (RTI), a research and outreach center at the University of Washington's College of Forest Resources, to investigate the potential of using satellite images as a more cost-effective and repeatable process to determine and calculate land use and its associated change.

Forest Operations: this page can connect you with answers to many forest operations questions. It includes a glossary of logging, forest engineering and associated forestry terms.
Short Course Training and Technical Support: gives a short overview of new technology training offered by RTI and its associated organizations.

CORRIM: A Consortium for Research on Renewable Industrial Materials created to develop a scientific base of information relating to the environmental performance of wood building products and to examine factors that can affect the efficient use of energy and materials in manufacturing and use of building materials. For more extensive information, visit CORRIM's new website at http://www.corrim.org.

Some Past Projects

Riparian Management Case Studies: gives the results of six case studies taken in Lewis county, and seven case studies from eastern Washington.
Small Forest Land Owner Database Project: presents an informative overview of what RTI is doing to help the SFLO of Washington.
Wildlife Habitat and Riparian Function Modeling: gives some background on the effects of forest management on the natural wildlife, and briefly explains some efforts to further understand these effects.
Check out the RTI Image Archive: We are storing forestry images for you to use, free!

School of Environmental and Forest Sciences

USDA Forest Service State & Private Forestry

The Rural Technology Home Page is provided by the College of Forest Resources. For more information, please contact the Rural Technology Initiative, University of Washington Box 352100 Seattle, WA 98195, (206) 543-0827. © 2000-2004, University of Washington, Rural Technology Initiative, including all photographs and images unless otherwise noted. To view the www.ruraltech.org privacy policy, click here.

Last Updated 10/13/2022 11:33:59 AM