FRA HONORS CATHEY, GOERLICH FOR TECHNICAL WRITING

RELEASE: April 18, 2008

CONTACT: Neil Ward (301/838-9385)
nward@forestresources.org

Rockville, MD – The Forest Resources Association conferred its 2008 Technical Writing Award on Joel Cathey, of Keysville, Virginia’s Ontario Hardwood Company, and Dan Goerlich, of Virginia Cooperative Extension, at FRA’s April 13 Annual Awards Luncheon at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Cathey and Goerlich co-authored the finest Technical Release FRA published during the previous year.

FRA Chairman Jim Brody congratulated Goerlich, who received the award on behalf of both authors.

Goerlich thanked Brody and FRA, offering warm praise to his co-author and the Ontario Hardwood Company’s owner, the Hogan family, for developing the workshop the publication documented: “They went to great lengths to support this program, and it’s been a huge success.”

Cathey and Goerlich’s Technical Release, Log Grading and Merchandising Workshop, describes the results of a workshop to improve the merchandising of valuable hardwood logs in Virginia, developed following a 2002 Virginia Tech study revealing that loggers lose an average of 20.7% of value due to undercut, overcut, and improper merchandising in the woods.

Designed and conducted by Ontario Hardwoods and Virginia Cooperative Extension, the workshop is structured so that each team of five participants collectively grades four to six logs and then evaluates the accuracy of their log grading after the lumber is graded. Participants learn how external defects impact the quality.

Single copies of the winning publication are available at no charge from FRA at 301/838-9385. Requests should refer to stock number 06-R-24.

The Forest Resources Association Inc. is a nonprofit trade association concerned with the safe, efficient, and sustainable harvest of forest products and their transport from woods to mill. FRA represents wood consumers, independent logging contractors, and wood dealers, as well as businesses providing products and services to the forest resource-based industries.

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Caption for photo: “FRA Chairman Jim Brody (left) congratulates Dan Goerlich for co-authoring, with Joel Cathey, the finest technical publication FRA published during the past year.”