The University of Wisconsin-Madison campus is home base for a 112-year-old federal effort to use the nation’s forests more efficiently. Founded in 1910, the Forest Products Lab first occupied two buildings closer to the center of campus. Today, it has a campus of its own, filling several buildings built in the 1930s and 1960s. The lab, run by the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is home to researchers studying nearly everything wood-related, from ways to make wooden buildings and products more resistant to fire, weather and bugs, to ways to make innovative plastic-like products from bits of wood and agricultural waste. The Cap Times got a behind the scenes look at the facility and its ongoing research as part of a tour organized for leaders from Wisconsin’s Office of the Commissioner of Insurance, Department of Safety and Professional Services and Department of Financial Institutions.