The William Main Seminar
The William Main Seminar Series in Forestry and Natural Resources was established in 1986. The program honors its namesake, a graduate of Berkeley's forestry program, and longtime friend of Cal and its forestry program. William Main was, until his death in 1981, a community leader and president of the Main Industries, Inc. in Bieber, California. In 1986 his wife, Berkeley graduate Rocky Main, and the couple's sons inaugurated the Main lecture series to provide a forum for exploring topical issues in forestry and natural resource management.
The Main series provides a rare opportunity for students, both undergraduate and graduate, to ask direct questions of leaders in their field, both in a formal classroom setting and later in the day, over dinner at the Berkeley Faculty Club. This program exists because of the incredible generosity of the Main Family.
The 2026 William Main Seminar Series, Forests and the Bioeconomy, will explore sustainable management of forest ecosystems and value chains for circularity, decarbonization and resilience. Led by Rick Fox, former USDA Bioeconomy Coordinator, this graduate seminar explores the central role of forest ecosystems and management in the rapidly evolving concept of bioeconomy as an overarching framework for global initiatives in sustainability and rural development. Students will examine how silvicultural systems, ecosystem management, and forest-based value chains—including timber construction, biobased materials, bioenergy and ecosystem services—contribute to circularity, decarbonization and resilience as fundamental principles of bioeconomy. The course will enable students to develop, analyze and evaluate approaches for integrating and expanding forest-based value chains in bioeconomy development strategies and identify areas for further research.
Upcoming Seminars (open to the public):
- March 12th, William Orts, Biorefineries in the Bioeconomy: The challenge of creating biomanufacturing hubs that add value to under-utilized biomass sources via sale of bioproducts and biofuels
- March 19th, Puneet Dwivedi, Economics of Woody Biomass in the Southern United States
- April 2nd, Mark Wishnie, Financing the Forest Bioeconomy
- April 9th, Sharon London and Sarah Billig, Third Party Certification Systems
- April 23rd, Chad Oliver, Silviculture and Agroforestry Systems for Decarbonization and Resilience
- May 7th, Susan Jones, Mass-timber design and building as a keystone of the forest bioeconomy
Unless otherwise noted, all seminars will take place at the UC Berkeley Faculty Club.
The SJ Hall Lecture in Industrial Forestry
Established in 1969, the S. J. Hall Lecture brings leading observers of the forestry sector to speak to the campus community and the public on topics concerned with industrial forestry and related matters.
This public lecture is an intriguing learning and networking opportunity for Berkeley alumni, students and community members.