This paper compares the use of extranets between the forest products industry and other U.S. business sectors. Extranets are secure networks that electronically link companies over the Internet. Results of the study indicate that the forest products industry uses extranet-based business applications with less frequency than other industrial sectors, receives fewer benefits and has greater concerns from using this business tool.

The following articles are presented in this issue of the newsletter: Unified Efforts, Governor's Forest Products Industry Task Force, New Extension Service Employee, Accidents Rate: Are we Measuring the Wrong Thing?, Louisiana Forest Products Laboratory Conducts Marketing Study in Northwest Louisiana, Lumber Drying Workshop and Small Wood Products Business Workshop.

Articles in this issue of the newsletter include: LFPDC Enhances Economic Development in Louisiana; An Integrated Market-based Methodology for Value-added Solid Wood Products Sector Economic Development; Metafore, LSU AgCenter team up in Tropics; Properties of Bagasse Fiberboard Studied; First Memorial Lecture Features First Grad Student; Guide to Raised Floor Systems Now Available; LFPDC Researchers Look at Sugarcane Rind as a Raw Material for Composite Panels.

Articles include: Director’s Message, Storm Clean up?, Experts Say Forest Management Requires Environmental Component, CBIT works with LFPDC on Supply Chain Initiative and Web Site, Process Holds Promise For Recycling Pressure Treated Wood, Forest Products Economic Development Update, Mechanical Forest Fuel Reduction vs. Burn-Only, Tax Incentive Programs Offered for Louisiana Companies.

Articles in this issue include: LFPDC Director’s Message, Rutherford Named New Director of the School of Renewable Natural Resources, Vlosky Participates in Forest Products Marketing Capacity Building in Europe, LFPDC Receives $170,000 Grant to Build Extrusion Capability, Value-Added Wood Products Extension at LFPDC, LFPDC Hires New Value added Extension Faculty, Vlosky Named to Louisiana Forestry Association Board, Fragmentation Challenging Louisiana Forests Owners.

In this issue, we present the following articles: Grant Awarded for Employment, Development Study; Research on Environmental Certification Finished; Causes & Analysis of Warp in Overlaid Furniture Panels; Third Annual 3-Day Lumber Drying Workshop to be Held February 24-26 in Baton Rouge; Hardwood Workshop Set for Louisiana Tech.

The following articles are presented in this issue: Director’s Message, Preliminary Investigation of Bio-composites Fabricated From Liquefied Wood/Phenol/Formaldehyde Co-condensation Resin, Nanoassembly on Recycled Fibers to Improve Resource Utilization, Using GPS to Document Skidder Motions, Unprecedented Economic Development Opportunities, Roy O. Martin Lumber Company and Martco Limited Partnership Experience With FSC Certification.

Articles in this issue are: LFPL Steering Committee Helps Set Path For Year 2000, Controlling Wood Moisture Content to Prevent Panel Warping, Linking Resource Characteristics to Product Characteristics, Louisiana Value-Added Wood Products Industry Report Now Available, A Softer Way to Harvest Timber.

This issue contains: Director’s Message; Chitosan-metal Complex Helps Protect Engineered Wood Products; Louisiana Launches Forest Sector Economic Development Web Site; Input-Output Applications to Forest Product Sector Development; Forest Product Activities at Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry; LSU AgCenter Establishes Center; "Meet" our Graduate Students, Research Associates, Post-docs, and Visiting Students and Professors.

Articles in this issue include: Developing Termite-resistant Structural Wood-based Panels from Southern Wood Species, LSU School of Forestry Adopts New Name, Formosan Subterranean Termite-resistant Wood-based Materials Under Investigation, Marketing Program Helps Louisiana Producers, Accident Analysis Saves Lives in Logging Industry, Can Decommissioned CCA-Treated Wood Be Used for Structural Flakeboard?