From bambugib@harborside.comMon Apr 22 11:21:22 1996 Date: Sun, 21 Apr 1996 09:38:17 -0700 From: Gib Cooper To: eaf-l@eaf.com Subject: Projects to Improve The Bamboo Industry Resent-Date: Sun, 21 Apr 1996 12:38:58 -0400 (EDT) Resent-From: eaf-l@eaf.com BAMBOO IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST At the 1994 Pacific Northwest Bamboo Agro-forestry Workshop a lively brainstorming session was facilitated by Daryl Ehrensing, Senior Research Assistant, of Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon. The group developed a list of goals for improving the the bamboo industry in the Pacific Northwest The projects listed as most important and possible to accomplish are as follows: 1. Municipal sewage applications In many areas municipalities use spray irrigation over large fields for final disposition of sewage waste. An experimental bamboo plantation using one of these facilities was proposed. This method of handling sewage waste water appears to have hayfields or golf courses as the main recipients. Hybrid poplars have also been growing under these experimental conditions. 2. Riparian improvement Many streams and rivers in the Pacific Northwest are affected by logging, livestock, and other human activities. Natural resource agencies and private landowners are revegetating miles of these disturbed water courses. On public lands the goal is to replant the areas with native species. Some landowners want to replant private riparian areas with bamboo. Bamboo would create a beneficial environment for aquatic life by cooling the water with shade and providing food for fish. A strip of bamboo alongside a stream would buffer the riparian zone from cattle and other livestock. Bamboo rhizomes knit and hold the fragile stream bank soils from flooding and erosion. Landowners would be growing a marketable crop of bamboo poles, plants and bamboo shoots. 3. Survey of interest in computer networking There is an important need to promote communications between people working with bamboo worldwide. A proposed method for accomplishing this goal is through information networking via computer telecommunications. Before the international bamboo community can be interconnected a suitable communications path must be chosen that is accessible to all. The chosen vehicle to make this decision is an international survey of all the institutions and individuals creating bamboo information for dissemination. Funding for the project could be requested from the world bamboo societies and institutions involved. 4. Determination of target species for pulp, poles, shoots, and craft applications American bamboo growing is in its infancy. More knowledge is needed concerning the best bamboo species to grow for various purposes in the variety of climates found in the Pacific Northwest. It was proposed that coordinated research efforts be undertaken through literature searches and test cropping as many species as possible. 5. Proceedings of the workshop The compilation of the papers and the group discussion period of the Pacific Northwest Bamboo Agro-Forestry Workshop is to be published. 6. Development of other goals for researchers As bamboo growing progresses in the U.S.A., new information will be needed. The bamboo agro-forestry group will have to determine research goals and funding sources. Cooperation and communications between institutions and individuals will be a most important facet any project. 7. Formation of grower, cottage industry and marketing coops A sizable number of the participants of the bamboo workshop represented people working in the region's bamboo trades. The group as a whole felt the need to organize efforts in specialty areas. Bamboo growers with nurseries felt more cooperation would be beneficial to consumers. Supply and demand problems could be tackled on a group basis as a trade association. Bamboo crafters need to be more organized to broaden the market. A larger market and variety of products could be made available to consumers. Producers of bamboo poles, shoots and fiber need marketing coops to amass commercial quantities for manufacturers and distributors. ------- Gib Cooper, Coordinator PNW Bamboo Agro-Forestry Workshop 28446 Hunter Creek Loop Gold Beach, OR 97444 Tel. or FAX 541/247-0835 e-mail: bambugib@harborside.com