They may seem mundane, but utility poles and the wires they carry account for about half of the value of most utility companies. There are about 167,000,000 poles in use throughout the United States. For that reason, and because poles are shipped worldwide, they are a big market for Oregon forests. Both because of the investment they represent and because the loss of a pole can mean the loss of electricity to consumers, it is important to keep poles in service as long as possible.

Since 1960, FRL researchers Bob Graham (Professor Emeritus, Forest Products) and Jeff Morrell (Forest Products), with two or three research assistants and two to four graduate students, have been investigating methods for improving the service life of wood poles. Initially the work was primarily directed toward developing methods for arresting decay inside the poles, but the scope of the project has grown to include detection of decay and initial preventive treatments.

The project encompasses both laboratory and field tests within cooperating utility systems. The field tests give the researchers environmentally distributed data that they follow up on in their basic laboratory work. The combination allows them to identify suitable treatments, then follow up with field tests on actual utility lines.

In addition to advising the researchers about their areas of concern, the cooperators meet at two conferences each year to exchange information. One of these conferences is held in Reno, Nevada. The cooperative, in conjunction with the utility groups, has held this conference six times, and about 250 people per year have attended. The cooperative also sponsors an eastern conference in Binghamton, New York. Only two have been held so far, attended by about 120 people from the Northeast utilities. These conferences inform the utilities about proper care and treatment of wood poles, but they also provide the utilities with an opportunity to interact and discuss mutual problems, an activity that might otherwise be largely lost as a result of deregulation.

The research has also had tangible benefits, including the development of two new fumigants. But even the seemingly more esoteric parts of the project have been beneficial. A few years ago, post-doctoral researcher Don B. Miller spent 2 years studying how one fumigant decomposed. When there was a spill of that material into the Sacramento River, OSU was one of the few sources of information on how it would decompose, and researchers could show how quickly it would disappear, demonstrating that it was not a long-term threat to the environment.