Field test assessments in Hilo, HI

Gerald Presley, Jeff Morrell, Barry Goodell, Jody Jellison, Xinfeng Xie

February 2026

Click on thumbnail images or links for enlarged or enhanced content.

Where else do IRG members congregate but at moist, warm sites where timber can decay with wild abandon?

Keaau, Hawaii (just outside of Hilo) which receives on average of 3500 mm rainfall each year, was the location for a fortuitous meet-up of several long time IRG members at the Viance test site, which is within the W.H. Shipman research fields. Gerry Presley and Jeff Morrell were working inspecting field samples, while Barry Goodell and Jody Jellison came from the opposite side of the Big Island where they were enjoying a bit of their retirement by assessing sun-dappled beaches. The group journeyed to the field site which was played an important role in the development of various currently used wood preservatives - and hosted the IRG31 pre-meeting field test tour in 2000.

Wood deterioration was actually a topic, and the gang discussed moving forward the final inspection of Barry's 39-year-old spruce treatment study. Of course Barry had the good sense to discuss this in Hawaii, not in the midst of the winter in Maine where the test is located. Jody and Gerry also found that they had a connection in that Jody was the Major Professor for Gerry’s Major Professor in Minnesota – making her something akin to his academic grandmother perhaps!

Barry and Jody also joined Associate Professor Xinfeng Xie and his colleague Erik Keranen from Michigan Tech University as they travelled to other field sites in the Hilo, Hawaii area. Xinfeng is Barry’s former PhD student but Xinfeng’s current research in Hilo includes a number of types of tests from panel exposure to lap-joints, and ground proximity exposure for both termites and decay.