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Random Notes on timber harvesting.
(not in any order, nor edited)
I am NOT against sustainable harvesting forest products, but timber industry giants like Weyerhaeuser need die
Fun Forest Fact.
The Weyerhaeuser Company owns more than 12,400,000 acres (19,400 sq miles) of timberlands in the U.S., and manages an additional 14,000,000 acres (22,000 sq miles) of timberlands under long-term licenses in Canada.
There are many techniques used to harvest timber sustainably.
Currently the US produces about 13.5 million cubic feet of round wood, of all types. (this does not include structural panels, nonstructural panels, pulp and paper.
90% of this is from large industrial operations, totally unsustainable.
10% is from small independent forest management, that grows more wood products than it consumes.
It is totally frustrating, as sustainable logging has a long history, and is known to work. We could supply all the timber the world needs, sustainably. At slightly higher cost.
But no... The great god of profit is still worshiped.
We know how to reverse this !
As you drive down the highways, and byways, of private forested land. You see plenty of trees. This is because all major wood product companies, leave a "buffer" of about 500 to 1,000 meters of uncleared forest beside every public road. Walk into that woodland, just a ways. and boom you are hit by clearcuts of unimaginable size.
Not so with small sustainable forest management. They only selectively cut allowing the forest to flourish. Keeping the soil intact.
We can do better. Small independent timber harvesters know very well this lesson. They clear the land of dead timber, leaving only few deadfalls for the continued health of the forest and it's biome. They do not clearcut, but selectively harvest. Yes this costs more in the short term. But.... FIRE !
It is not just the price. It is also the will to remove the huge profits involved. The first step is to regulate, with strong teeth, the label "Sustainable Harvest", and a strong "Carbon Tax" on those that are not.
Now the "Market" alone will not move the needle all the way. We need legislation that breaks the monopoly's up. Also realistic pricing for timber removed from public lands.
Â
I know that it is hard to picture.
But most Forests do better when sustainable harvest occurs.
No not the way Big timber does it here in America. Single species of fast growing pulpwood.
But in most of Europe, and Scandinavian forests are managed with replacement species, and an eye on diversity. The long-term health of the entire forest.
Even here, there are small sustainable timber practices that actually increase the health of the overall forest while increasing its size.
My main objection to Cap and Trade laws, is that they are a local attempt to solve a global problem.
Oregon timber, can not just raise its prices for raw timber, as the market is worldwide. Many small sustainable operations will not be able to survive, as they will have to compete with jurisdictions that do not have Cap and Trade laws.
Thus a local burden on a global problem.
~~~~~~
No, oh shit. Bad timeline, bad go away.
Log, baby log
A rarely used amendment to the Endangered Species Act allows for the creation of a committee nicknamed "the God Squad" to take unprecedented action during emergencies like hurricanes and wildfires. Trump wants to convene this committee to bypass endangered species protections and other environmental regulations to ramp up timber production across 280 million acres of national forests and other public lands.
https://archive.ph/vyGMw
Random Notes on timber harvesting.
(not in any order, nor edited)
I am NOT against sustainable harvesting forest products, but timber industry giants like Weyerhaeuser need die
Fun Forest Fact.
The Weyerhaeuser Company owns more than 12,400,000 acres (19,400 sq miles) of timberlands in the U.S., and manages an additional 14,000,000 acres (22,000 sq miles) of timberlands under long-term licenses in Canada.
There are many techniques used to harvest timber sustainably.
Currently the US produces about 13.5 million cubic feet of round wood, of all types. (this does not include structural panels, nonstructural panels, pulp and paper.
90% of this is from large industrial operations, totally unsustainable.
10% is from small independent forest management, that grows more wood products than it consumes.
It is totally frustrating, as sustainable logging has a long history, and is known to work. We could supply all the timber the world needs, sustainably. At slightly higher cost.
But no... The great god of profit is still worshiped.
We know how to reverse this !
As you drive down the highways, and byways, of private forested land. You see plenty of trees. This is because all major wood product companies, leave a "buffer" of about 500 to 1,000 meters of uncleared forest beside every public road. Walk into that woodland, just a ways. and boom you are hit by clearcuts of unimaginable size.
Not so with small sustainable forest management. They only selectively cut allowing the forest to flourish. Keeping the soil intact.
We can do better. Small independent timber harvesters know very well this lesson. They clear the land of dead timber, leaving only few deadfalls for the continued health of the forest and it's biome. They do not clearcut, but selectively harvest. Yes this costs more in the short term. But.... FIRE !
It is not just the price. It is also the will to remove the huge profits involved. The first step is to regulate, with strong teeth, the label "Sustainable Harvest", and a strong "Carbon Tax" on those that are not.
Now the "Market" alone will not move the needle all the way. We need legislation that breaks the monopoly's up. Also realistic pricing for timber removed from public lands.
Â
I know that it is hard to picture.
But most Forests do better when sustainable harvest occurs.
No not the way Big timber does it here in America. Single species of fast growing pulpwood.
But in most of Europe, and Scandinavian forests are managed with replacement species, and an eye on diversity. The long-term health of the entire forest.
Even here, there are small sustainable timber practices that actually increase the health of the overall forest while increasing its size.
My main objection to Cap and Trade laws, is that they are a local attempt to solve a global problem.
Oregon timber, can not just raise its prices for raw timber, as the market is worldwide. Many small sustainable operations will not be able to survive, as they will have to compete with jurisdictions that do not have Cap and Trade laws.
Thus a local burden on a global problem.
~~~~~~
No, oh shit. Bad timeline, bad go away.
Log, baby log
A rarely used amendment to the Endangered Species Act allows for the creation of a committee nicknamed "the God Squad" to take unprecedented action during emergencies like hurricanes and wildfires. Trump wants to convene this committee to bypass endangered species protections and other environmental regulations to ramp up timber production across 280 million acres of national forests and other public lands.
https://archive.ph/vyGMw