We pulled it together, and pulled it off -- Another great Forest Owners Research and Technology Exchange Annual Meeting!! Special thanks to our gracious tour hosts in and around Pineville LA: Crest Natural Resources, Myers Tree Farm, and RoyOMartin -- All were invaluable in their support of this strong effort.

Not only did we pull the indoor meeting and field tour off, but we took a deep and valuable dive into the timber stand growth dynamics of literally 20 unique operational loblolly pine plantations, including many stands running mean annual increments of 8-12 green tons/acre/year, site index growth trajectories of 82-102' base age 25 years, with crown lengths of 25-36', and leaf area indices of 3 to 4+ units. We discussed the impacts of these variables on risk and returns and applied considerable focus to data and observations regarding the important area of deployment or planting systems, i.e. conventional spacing, low and ultra low density plantings, wide-row and mixed genotype and density plantings. And, I have zero doubt that the attendees will be better forest managers and investors for it.

When the meeting was concluded, Phil and I held over for a day and picked out a couple more great research sites for new operational and advanced studies to install this coming planting season in N. Central LA. The new studies will include one having a focus on optimizing the genotypes and densities assigned in the Opti or mixed genotype by density regimes and then another study optimizing the breeding of cross zone loblolly pine genetic material for the Western Gulf Region. The operational research platform continues to grow at a really strong pace, and the advanced learning and application will follow! Isn't it time you participated in the Forest Owners Research and Technology Exchange platform?