Media report on UMaine testing of Norway spruce for construction
The Associated Press, Bangor Daily News, Portland Press Herald, WABI (Channel 5) and WVII (Channel 7) reported scientists at the University of Maine are testing the strength of wood from Norway spruce trees planted by the Civilian Conservation Corp during the Great Depression.
UMaine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center’s students and staff are evaluating the bending and tension of about 1,200 pieces of lumber milled from Norway spruce that grew in Maine, Vermont, New York and Wisconsin, according to the AP report. Workers planted the non-native trees in the 1930s and 1940s as part of a program that put unemployed men to work, the article states. Stephen Shaler, director of the School of Forest Resources and associate director of the Advanced Structures and Composites Center, said the center is testing the spruce to determine if it meets industry standards, and preliminary results look promising. “We need to test the infrastructure purposes and being able to be a part of that is huge not only for my schooling, but also for my career,” UMaine senior Benjamin Farber told WABI. The Tampa Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, The Boston Globe and Maine Public Broadcasting Network carried the AP report.