What are major issues facing forestry in U.S.?

[caveman]

I have begun training an FFA forestry team that will compete in the national FFA forestry contest next October.  One of the areas that they will have to be knowledge of, and be able to discuss intelligently, is forest issues.  In Florida, we deal a lot with invasive plants and animals, wild fire, urban encroachment/fragmentation, smoke dispersion on prescribed fire  and others.  If those of you from around the country would fill me in on issues you face, I would really appreciate your help.
Caveman

[woodtroll]

They are all good subjects.
Along with most of them, we are concerned with epidemic insect problems.
The problems arising from this.
Heavy fuel loading.
Loss timber base.
Loss of age classes.

[John Mc]

A big issue around here (Vermont, and probably a lot a areas in the Northeast) is fragmentation and parcelization. All of the blocks are getting split up into smaller and smaller pieces. This tends to make any kind of timber harvest uneconomical, not to mention breaking up wildlife habitat.

We also have serious concerns about invasive species. The bugs are getting all the attention, but invasive plants are a serious threat as well. Unfortunately, it's still legal for nurseries to sell some types of known invasive plants here in Vermont. So we're battling to clean it up on one hand, and introducing new seed sources on the other.

John Mc

[Ron Scott]

http://www.woodlandowners.org/topten.pdf

[WDH]

Stumpage prices are very low compared to historical prices, making the economics of establishing a commercial forest much less attractive.

[Magicman]

So many (mine included) family farms that once were open pastures and row crops are now planted in trees.  At what point does the supply outpace the demand and adversely affect timber prices?

Which is kinda what WDH just said.   :-\

[caveman]

Those are good points about stumpage prices and low demand due to former crop land planted in trees.  I had assumed the opposite has happened elsewhere as it has in central Florida.  When I was a kid, the major crop in my area was citrus.  Polk County was known as the citrus capitol of the world.  On the land where many of those former groves were there are now 4-6 houses per acre.  Caveman

[John Mc]

So many (mine included) family farms that once were open pastures and row crops are now planted in trees.  At what point does the supply outpace the demand and adversely affect timber prices?

Interesting point. Are any of these farmland conversions old enough that they are actually supplying trees at this point?

Poor stumpage prices is a big factor in our area as well. I've heard a few stories from foresters and loggers about retirees who have been doing "all the right things" in their woodlots for many years, thinking they were building a financial cushion for emergencies. When they saw their 401-Ks and other savings wiped out by the financial melt down a few years ago, they called in their forester. The forester took a look and checked mill prices and had to get back to them with some bad news. by the time they paid him, the logger and the trucker, they would not get enough from the sale to cover their costs, let alone come out ahead. So their "backup retirement plan" was wiped out as well.

One of the bigger issues in the forest really didn't happen in the forest: the huge melt-down in housing and construction has decimated demand for many products. The glut of foreclosed houses on the market isn't helping with demand either...

John Mc

[Gary_C]

One of the bigger issues in the forest really didn't happen in the forest: the huge melt-down in housing and construction has decimated demand for many products. The glut of foreclosed houses on the market isn't helping with demand either...

So there's another threat to forestry. It's the financial markets. Normally in a housing market downturn there is an upturn in the remodeling work as people stay in their houses and remodel for needs. But in these times even financing for the remodeling work has dried up. Interest rates may be at historic lows, but availability of loans is at an all time low with declining home values and bank regulators holding a tight rein on the banks. And credit card lending is all but dried up with the demise of those home equity loans.

[WDH]

Yes, currently, the biggest issues in Forestry are not ecological or biological, they are financial.

[John Mc]

Good point, Gary C. It's hard to get a home equity loan for remodeling when you have no equity anymore...

[sjfarkas]

Here in CA a big concern is the Forest Service not selling much.  The mills need a steady supply and the forest are only letting go 5-10% of what the forests grow.  This is going to make it pretty tough for the mills to have the supply needed.  We have a mill scheduled to reopen very soon and everyone is worried they'll only last another year or two before they have to shut down due to a lack of supply.  private lands can't supply the total need here in my area for very long.

[woodtroll]

Why are they limiting cutting?
Prices to low?
To many regulations: roadless areas, protected sites, nest sites, protected animal sites, cultural sites...
The list could go on.
What is their allowable cut?
Do they not hire timber people any more?

Cutting is going on in the Black Hills NF.

[PAFaller]

Another topic that is related in a round about way is a pending logger shortage. Some areas see it more than others, but even here in the quality hardwood region it is starting to become an issue. Its not new news that demand is low across the board for wood products, and many operators have retired and/or just left the profession. Mechanization will make up for some of the loss, but the cost of start-up is nearly impossible. Add to that the cost of insurances, compensation, etc its no surprise fewer people are looking to the woods as a steady line of work. At 28 years old I am one of if not the youngest guy around here that took the plunge to buy a skidder and go to work, but working alone I am certainly not keeping any big mill or paper company in wood. At some point demand will rebound, but mills are worried they may not have to workforce in the woods to meet it.

[jim king]

I agree it is the money, that is probably not the line you wanted to talk about but it certainly is the problem of the day.

Yes, currently, the biggest issues in Forestry are not ecological or biological, they are financial.

Second most dangerous is the ecology industry has to much money and will do everything possible to stop forestry confusing it with deforestation.  But that being said the subdivisions and roads will continue to pick away at the forests and the blame will go on the industry as blaming developers is not as easy to sell.

If you read Spanish I can send you what the ecos are pushing here and with US Govt financial  support and it is coming your way..

Here is a wild story that was just published obviously from an idiot that has never been to Peru but was fed this line by the eco nuts.

http://truthout.org/peru%E2%80%99s-less-benign-environmental-policy/1302246000#comment-436

[caveman]

Thanks, Jim.  I do not read Spanish well but I have some kids who can interpret.  I did read some of the propaganda the idiot you mentioned wrote of.  There are folks with radical views who make trouble for those using sound practices in many industries.  Caveman

[timerover51]

I would echo Jim's comments regarding the perception that harvesting timber means permanent deforestation.  Having had two children go through the current US educational system, and then doing some teaching in special programs, the impression given to most grade school, junior high, and high school students, along with all too many college students is that logging is WRONG and must be stopped completely. When I tell people, students and teachers, that there is as much forested land now in North American as there was when Colombus arrived, I am viewed as borderline insane.  When I tell them that much of New England was cleared of timber, and now has regrown, I am pretty much disbelieved.

When I ask how would houses be built if there were no timber harvested, it is like that is a totally new idea, that houses have to be built of something and do not magically appear, or without a timber harvest, you would have no paper to use or feed into your computer print. and no pencils to write with on the paper.  If I show them pictures of clear cut areas being replanted with seedlings, it is a complete shock to them, as they believe that once an area is clear cut, it is doomed to be forever cleared.  What needs to be done is get through to the public that forestry is a good thing to do, and can be done in a highly responsible manner.  Until that is done, the regulations and negative propoganda is simply going to get worse.

[CT Trapper]

Here in CA a big concern is the Forest Service not selling much.  The mills need a steady supply and the forest are only letting go 5-10% of what the forests grow.  This is going to make it pretty tough for the mills to have the supply needed.  We have a mill scheduled to reopen very soon and everyone is worried they'll only last another year or two before they have to shut down due to a lack of supply.  private lands can't supply the total need here in my area for very long.

I am not a logger but believe the biggest threat, is the same other industry and business are, and will be facing, regulations.

[jpsheb]

So many (mine included) family farms that once were open pastures and row crops are now planted in trees.  At what point does the supply outpace the demand and adversely affect timber prices?

Interesting point. Are any of these farmland conversions old enough that they are actually supplying trees at this point?

Poor stumpage prices is a big factor in our area as well. I've heard a few stories from foresters and loggers about retirees who have been doing "all the right things" in their woodlots for many years, thinking they were building a financial cushion for emergencies. When they saw their 401-Ks and other savings wiped out by the financial melt down a few years ago, they called in their forester. The forester took a look and checked mill prices and had to get back to them with some bad news. by the time they paid him, the logger and the trucker, they would not get enough from the sale to cover their costs, let alone come out ahead. So their "backup retirement plan" was wiped out as well.

One of the bigger issues in the forest really didn't happen in the forest: the huge melt-down in housing and construction has decimated demand for many products. The glut of foreclosed houses on the market isn't helping with demand either...

John Mc

Caveman, 

How did the workshop last October go?

Regarding John's post above, My land in SW Tennessee (Henderson area) like this.  It was farmland roughly 40-50 years ago and is now in a position to yield trees of varying qualities ranging from chip & saw pines and tie/pulp grade bottom land hardwoods up to 30" pines & stave-grade oaks. 

In fact, I have a cousin who helicopter crop dusts tree-farms all over the place and has mentioned to me that because of the depressed timber prices and elevated corn prices, the land in some areas he goes, like Iowa, is worth several times more as corn field than as forest.  Corn & cotton are the biggest crops around my area in SW Tennessee. 

As for long-term forestry issues, if what my cousin tells me, you may see some folks cutting their timber, even at the currently low prices, simply to convert the land for growing corn. 

[WDH]

Conversion of timberland to cropland will happen.  It is part of the cycle.  In my lifetime, there was one property next to mine that was in pine timber from the Soil Bank Program when I was young, cleared into cropland and I grew up and was farmed, and then planted to pine under the CRP Program where it is now.

[BrandonTN]

One thing's for sure: there is no short supply of forests in US. I can say, after seeing the deforestation in France (due to agriculture use, small land base per capita, urban expansion etc) in comparison the US is loaded with forests (much more species diversity, too). However, that's only the snapshot for now...as someone mentioned above about increased fragmentation/parcelization of forest in New England, the same will apply to other or all parts of the US in time, and even a bit further in time US will look like France with croplands (exponential human pop growth, suburban/ubran expansion, etc).

As people here have said, finances are the big issue for forestry now. Seems to me the housing bubble over saturated the market with homes as the result of people expecting too much too soon (lenders AND borrows). As people have mentioned, decimated housing market. With all of the legal-financial engineering that went on in past 2 decades, a housing bubble was born from it and perhaps many people mistook that bubble growth as quality growth? It's interesting to think about the situation in forestry in US now. Transitions going on as baby boomers retire, and new generation takes the reigns...people trying to get a grasp on what's going on? (or at least I'm trying to :D)

The abstraction as I see it:  major issues facing forestry are the same issues facing the US in general... issues like adapting our system to changing national and global conditions.  We are searching for unified direction...seems this is a time of transition and re-evaluation. What worked yesterday isn't working the same today. America's value for individuality is a great thing and after spending time in Europe I'm more aware of the freedoms we actually have in America...however at same time I have become more conscious of how US excesses can have negative effects on people elsewhere.

In this shrinking world, some freedoms of yesterday may be relative excesses of tomorrow. As has always been the case, what we change and what we conserve will make all the difference for US.

[Okrafarmer]

I do think the shrinking/aging logger population is a big deal. There is a similar crisis for farmers. To start up fresh is so difficult.

[jim king]

I do think the shrinking/aging logger population is a big deal. There is a similar crisis for farmers. To start up fresh is so difficult.

I read a storey a while back that said that most people could not sell thier business and have enough money to duplicate it a start over.

[caveman]

jpsheb, sorry not to reply for so long about our FFA forestry team.  The kids did well, learned a lot and had a trip of a lifetime.  It was a special trip for me as well since my oldest daughter was on the team.  The information provided here helped to prepare them.  Thank you for all who responded.  Caveman

[jpsheb]

No worries on the late reply, Caveman.  I guess I can take a while to reply too.

Thanks for the info (I'd taken a break my aspirations of managing timberland to work for the navy a while).  Re-started from scratch a couple years ago.  

[Texas Ranger]

Did I miss any one saying the failure of the feds to put effective management on the federal lands?  No salvage, no real fuel reduction, bowing down to the greens?

[WDH]

There is a major issue with enough trucking capacity on the wood harvesting side. 

[BrandonTN]

Did I miss any one saying the failure of the feds to put effective management on the federal lands?  No salvage, no real fuel reduction, bowing down to the greens?

Alright ol' timer, let's dance! :p
Youre right, enough management has not been/is not taking place on Fed lands, esp in CA. And there has been much bowing to greens, yes. However, it's not helpful to be condescending to us younger ones still working...your generation isnt free from playing a part in how we got here today. 
The solution is more ramped up mgmt on FS lands, but strategically on the landscaoes and in unison with public outreach/education about how management mimics natural forest ecological processes (this latter part being something your generation wasnt too concerned with....one could argue the greens filled a vacuum at that time).
In sum, current FS foresters think the days of apolopetic forestry on FS lands should be finished....we've specialzed in "collaboration on planning projects. Now i hope we can start collaborating with sawmills more.
Which leads to my concern as already mebtioned above.....age demographics of loggers. Also hardwood markets....(vinyl flooring is king these days)

[SwampDonkey]

Look at all that hardwood including 'Bertha' and all her support equipment you can't see in that back corner and the little table and 960 sq feet of flooring. ;D

[mike_belben]

CDL pool willing to drive a log truck is shrinking

logging equipment is rising while the doller per acre value is shrinking

money printing is making the profit margin of most any equipment heavy small business startup venture look pretty tight in real purchasing power. you can make $60k a year +med/dent/401k with a bench in a heated building and set schedule without a degree if you are mechanically inclined, but might need to spend $150k on equipment to reliably make that in the woods and its a hard way to live at times.  theres a lotta guys who could be loggers that just wont be because the barrier to entry gets bigger all the time as old iron dies and big $ DEF junk replaces it.

not to mention all the rules put on loggers in some jurisdictions we read about here on the forum.

you just arent gonna have as many startups as back when a tractor, saw, pickup truck and a handshake got you in the door with pallet bolts or something entry level like that.  a bobcat or backhoe and tag trailer will lure someone to crossover from residential to woods work but with the housing explosion i think small logging is a big paycut compared to driveways, culverts, septics and so on right now.

[Texas Ranger]

Biggest problem in my part of Texas is realestate investment companies.  Turning timber land into 5 to 30 thousand dollars an acre "ranches."  Second largest is private owners die, kids take over, sell the timber, subdivide and go the route of the RET's.  In simple terms, the land has out valued the timber.

[SwampDonkey]

Big problem up here is subsidized timber, that's why it's cheaper than land and equipment. If a woodlot owner wants to sell timber it has to be at cut throat subsidy prices. Why would a mill want to pay you more when they don't need your wood. The mill is tied to government wood like an umbilical cord. You aren't going to compete against the government. No sign of that ever changing. 40,000 voting woodlot owners here don't count for much against the Irvings. They keep voting for the wrong people.......over and over and over. I haven't voted for the two parties for 20 years because they employ the same bunch. It tells me they like to talk different than they vote. :

[mike_belben]

I forgot to mention the size of forestry equipment has gone to the strictly large size.  The size jacks the sticker price, insurance expense and fuel consumption way up which pushes operators to either high grade or clearcut too soon.  

 The cost to operate does not allow the average cutter the ability to put much time into good stewardship.  The bills scream go go go.  If the market had small, stout economical machines then i feel a lot more long term managing would be going on. 

think of a trencher sized articulated chassis, hydrostatic, 3cylinder tier-zero diesel with a small grapple and cable on back and a quick attach loader on front.  Foamed 33x15 floation lugs and LEDs in every direction.   Thats a machine that can showup on a gooseneck behind a dually, load handcut logs on the same trailer that it lives on every day and really thin the pulp and pallet out of a stand so that all the sunshine is producing #1 sawlogs and up instead of mostly junk. 


If that 1man show class of equipment was abundant it would lead to a lot of 1 man shows seeking to long term manage timber stands.  long term connection to a piece of ground really invests a caretaker to have a considerate footprint.  Not wreck a trail i will have to use for years, not deplete a resource that could feed me for years. That sort of thing. Do you guys wham bam your own farms and leave oil buckets and flat tires pushed over the ditch?   Because thats what normal logging looks like around here.  Take the best trees and leave the 303 pails. Just run em over a bit so they look better. 


I feel like US forestry is doomed if it doesnt change entirely.  Maybe to a long term lease format.  Is that a thing anywhere?  Paying an annual lease fee on long term contracts?

[SwampDonkey]

At one time we had a deputy Minister of Forests who was a forester. The crown lands and forests act was written and was not a one sided document (ie mill centred), it included woodlot owners in the wood supply game and all public wood had to be processed within New Brunswick before export. New government comes in everything is mill centred from then on. Been 35 years now with mostly clear cutting on all land both public and private, so most of the trees you see now are that age.  'My, the trees are awefully small in New Brunswick aren't they?'

[wisconsitom]

Commodity prices-ensuring that little timber is or will be grown on deep loamy soils, where trees grow best.  That ground is for corn!!!

Invasive species;  If you've ever seen what buckthorn can do to a woods, you'll know once this or equivalent invasive shrub gets into the site, no forestry is possible.

Closure of numerous mills.  Nowhere to go with low-grade.

Labor issues.  Like Mike Belben said, why log when you can do construction or other stuff for more $$/easier life?

Urban sprawl.  We're now losing forest land rapidly to housing, malls, banks, whathaveyou.....it is ongoing.

Divestment of big timber/paper companies in their land holdings.  Consolidated Paper's thousands of acres of forest land in N. Wisconsin are now owned piecemeal by myriad small owners.  Probably closest most of these folks get to "management" is maybe hinging a few hardwoods "for the deer".

Deer:  Far too many deer for healthy regen.  Some species closed right out by the browsers.

And now, the largest looming factor-climate change.  Good grief, we forest-minded folks like to think long-term, but whatdaya do when the future is looking inhospitable to what we now enjoy and depend on?

[mike_belben]

the closer you look at the world the harder it is to be optimistic.  i envy those bubbly people who can just tune it out.  i dont know that ignoring a problem helps it, but i know pondering it too much hurts you personally and changes nothing. 

[Okrafarmer]

Sounds so bleak.  :-\

All I know is, I can get plenty of logs for my sawmill from small local loggers and from arborists. We pay around $180 / KBF for SYP and a little more for other things. We're selling well and getting decent price for our lumber. Been selling 2x4's green off the mill for $1.52/bf on up, and everything bigger or longer than 1.5x5.5x 8 ft. is more per bf. 


Of course there's a lot of inflation. So far we're doing ok. Had to switch our emphasis from boutique hardwoods to farm-grade softwood, but our biggest sellers are SYP, White Oak, and ERC. We still sell the boutique hardwoods, just not as much.

[Ron Scott]

• Flammable forest fuels, intense forest fires 
• Forest fragmentation
• Lack of Private landowner forest stewardship planning
• Nonnative species management
• New and invasive forest insects and disease

[WDH]

Logging and trucking capacity. 

[kantuckid]

One recent challenge I see in my area is the selectivity of the buyers for timber. A cooperage, whiskey barrel plant near me will result in selective cutting of White Oak. Current diesel fuel costs will influence what a logger can afford to cut and haul to market. I see sawmills that are extremely heavy with WO logs yet barely buying other species which kills a loggers ability to reward forest owners who have mostly diverse woodlots.
Fragmentation of private forest properties will continue here in KY as inability to protect small forests after owners death will have us continue to see forested lands turn into vacation and 2nd home properties. This is compounded by terrain that gives few building sites combined with property distribution in wills.
Business & tourism interest's in my area tend to see the horse & bourbon industry here yet fail to see the timber industry which is far larger in value, thus the PR goes towards them not forestry programs.
Honestly, this topic is a tough one to discuss here as I'm trying to avoid politics and many of the answers lead towards that area.
I'll add absentee landowners (private & corporate) to the great lists above. In KY much of the forested lands belong to coal, steel & timber companies. We all know that coal & steel are in uncertain waters lately in the USA.

[Clark]

Much like the farmer, loggers are their own worst enemies by over-producing a commodity. Now, the industrial TIMOs, REITs and other entities are not helping with this because their business model is built on high volume, low profit margin. So they encourage the logger to cut as much as they can while pushing silviculture on their property to faster growth and younger age classes. 

Anti-trust laws in America make regulating supply just about impossible. However, proof that it works both for the producer and consumer can be seen (as best I understand the situation) in Canada's maple syrup producers. 

I think many issues in forestry can be traced back to either over-production in commodities or under-production or utilization on federal lands. The pendulum of production needs to be better balanced.

Clark

[Kodiakmac]

The supply management systems in Canada (dairy, eggs, poultry, maple syrup) only benefit a closed, cozy cartel of producers and politicians.  The consumers get hosed and the cost to young folks who want to enter the businesses is absolutely prohibitive.

[ppine]

By far the biggest challenge in the West is controlling the density of forests.  In other words the stocking rate.  Forests have been protected from fire for over 100 years.  Logging has been vastly reduced in the last 30 years.  Trees are too close together, with closed canopies, poor growth and susceptibility to insects, disease and fire. 

The National Forest System currently has net negative growth.  Mortality exceeds the growth rate.  The way to fix it is logging and thinning.  Environmental lawsuits and the National Environmental Policy Act have been the main obstacles to timber sales.  Now the industry is changing with new mills going in and lots of timber sales. 

[Kodiakmac]

Trees are too close together, with closed canopies, poor growth and susceptibility to insects, disease and fire. 

Indeed.  And when/where blowdowns let sunlight in, the deer herd makes sure that nothing worthwhile that sprouts will grow over a few feet high.

[RPF2509]

Ppine has hit it right on the nose.  Everywhere I go in the west, I see overstocked forests.  Except where they have burned to ash.  Even then there is so little salvage going on on federal land, it will all burn again.

[ppine]

The USFS has made a course correction.  They are no longer hiding behind climate change.  We have 4 new mills going in near me, and the FS is hiring foresters, timber cruisers and surveyors.  We expect more timber sales. 

But we are so far behind, a lot of the timber sales will not be worth much.  There is a huge inventory of small, unmerchantable trees left after little logging in the last 30 years, and fire suppression for over 100 years.  In order to get caught up we need to log 100 million acres of overstocked forest in the western US.   A lot of it will cost more to log than the revenue it will produce.  The high cost of fuel, equipment and longer haul costs than in the past make the economics look dim. It is easy to imagine some timber sales going out for bid and having no bidders. 

We are going to have to figure out some additional funding sources for fuel reductions near where people live, fuel reductions in unmerchantable forests, and for marginal timber sales.  The current administration is making some attempts to do that, but they are reluctant to use the word "logging."  

[JonathanPace]

I've read recently that labor shortages and supply and demand are taking a significant toll on the industry. Also, new technology means staff needs to be trained to operate them. With innovation comes the rise of new jobs, so that's a plus! 

[SwampDonkey]

These days the start up cost for logging is at least $2M. And that will most likely be tied to work done for a mill on contract. No contract, no financing. If you intend to work on private land exclusively it will be harder to get the funds and banks realize by now that you need some sort of guarantee that you have more ground ahead to cut. Currently, in this area, all the mature stuff has been cut on private ground. Most of the good ground is now cleared off to fields or a mix of high graded and suppressed old trees, much of it on slopes and swamps. Pretty much none of that land was ever spaced or had any follow up work to improve it. The silviculture would have been done on the good sites. And now a lot of those have been cut after 30-40 years. I see a lot of fence post clear cuts these days. :D All low value wood. The province used to promote high value wood production. The pulp lobby killed it since the 80's. Many times good logs were ground up. Look at the stuff they make 2 x 4" from, barely big enough by the time you get to 8' and lots of knots. The other 20 feet is in the pulpwood pile. You'll search high and low around here for 12" x 16' stair tread spruce. Only one place around here has it and not much. It's often with pith up the middle and checked. It's not jacket wood. :D You won't find it at portable millers around here either, it will be pasture spruce logs with 3" plus sized knots. I drove buy one operation all last fall, all knotty low grade pasture stuff. Probably find the old cow or horse hair in the pitch when she rubbed her old winter fur off. :D ;)

[ppine]

It is hard to comment on what is happening in New Brunswick. 
The eastern and western portions of the US are quite different when it comes to forestry. 

I have started a small logging company on a shoe string, bidding falling contracts with the State of Colorado.  We were required to fall, buck and limb trees into logs and leave them in place.  We had no machinery at all. 

The economics of logging have been greatly affected by high fuel prices and compounded by losing saw mills and increasing haul distances.   The amount of small trees required during logging and thinning operations is going to cost a lot with little return in the way of revenue.  

I still think in the western US it is tree density that is the main issue. 

[barbender]

 The outfit I worked for in north central MN cut small diameter timber quite often, that was similar to a lot of overgrown western forests. Especially black spruce in the winter. In our case, black spruce is very important to the local paper company, and they are willing to pay to get that small diameter, low production wood into the yard. 

 A big part of the problem out West is a lack of mills, like ppine said. When you have a low value product to start with, and then you have to haul it over 100 miles, the economics don't work very well.

 Hopefully, with a committed supply from the USFS (can they even do that with the current state of lawsuits tying up about every timber sale they try to do?) industry will have a need for all of the fiber in those acres. 

[stavebuyer]

The loss or closure of the paper/pulp industry. While not glamorous; the sheer volume of material utilized as well as dependence of mechanized harvesting crews on pulpwood sales and sawmill waste disposal creates an imbalance that will be difficult to overcome. The paper mills were the foundation of the entire industry.