Eini Lowell, a research forest products technologist, is a member of the outreach and extension team of the Northwest Advanced Renewables Alliance (NARA) project. The team will identify communities in the four states (Idaho, Oregon, Montana, and Washington) that comprise the project, for possible development of biorefinery industries. The team will also serve as a conduit between researchers and community stakeholders, helping to transfer the science and technology of biofuels and important co-products to boost economic development in Northwest communities.

Lowell earned a B.S. in forestry, with a wood science and technology emphasis, from the University of Maine at Orono, and an M.S. in forest products from Oregon State University (OSU). She worked for the state of Maine’s forest products marketing and assessment program, ran her own consulting business, and conducted wood quality research at the Department of Forest Products at OSU before joining the Forest Service’s Pacific Northwest Research Station in 1990. Her work at the station includes studies on deterioration and uses of dead and dying trees, use of hardwoods, and opportunities tailored to community needs for using small-diameter trees and other woody biomass. She is currently involved in identifying ways to use by-products of forest restoration and fuels reduction treatments to benefit communities and to aid reducing the cost of these management activities.