IRG55 Keynote Presentations

Keynotes at IRG55

Dallin Brooks, NHLA

Opportunities to Grow and Stabilize the Hardwood Industry

Dallin Brooks is the Executive Director of the National Hardwood Lumber Association in the USA.   There he continues to lead the NHLA in its goals to provide education, networking, and lumber services to the hardwood industry.  Dallin focuses on research, collaboration and promotion to advance hardwood lumber markets. 

Prior to joining the NHLA Dallin worked at the Western Wood Preservers Institute where he promoted and advocated for the use of preserved wood and fire-retardant treated wood.  Dallin has a BSc in Wood Products Processing and a MSc in Forest and Society from the University of British Columbia. Dallin’s other true passion is sitting on a lake and fishing in the summer or moose calling in the fall

Sonja Oswalt, USDA Forest Service

I am interested in landscape level analyses, particularly in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley. I enjoy wildlife-habitat dynamics as well as investigating the impacts of invasive plants in forest communities. My past research includes changing songbird populations in the U.S. Virgin Islands, impacts of sedimentation and "valley plugs" on forest communities in West Tennessee, Invasive plant impacts in forest communities, and various national analyses.

My current research involves National-level analysis of forest resources for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, National-level analysis of forest resources for the Montreal Process global Sustainability Report, Forest Resources of Mississippi and Louisiana, Changes in forest conditions in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley, and Invasive plants in forest communities.