Sawmill Wood Procurement in the Northern Forest
- Germain, René
SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
rhgermai@esf.edu - Bevilacqua, Eddie
SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
Most sawmills in the Northern Forest region depend on local wood supply to meet production requirements. Unfortunately, few data are available to characterize wood procurement by the industry on a regional scale. Without reliable procurement data it is difficult to anticipate the effects that socioeconomic and land use changes will have on the wood supply and profitability of the primary forest products industry. This study used a mail survey of 783 sawmills in the United States and Canada to gather information about the procurement operations of sawmills within 100 miles of the Northern Forest. The objectives of the study were to:
1) characterize the wood procurement activities of mills in this region;
2) provide estimates for the geographic range of procurement operations;
3) examine the relative importance of specific sawlog sources,
4) compare perceptions of changes in log supply over a ten year period from 1994 to 2005,
5) map competition for sawlogs based on a geospatial analysis of woodshed maps provided by survey
respondents;
6) predict how changes in land use will affect the wood supply.
American mills procured 90% of their total 2005 roundwood supply from within 30 to 70 miles of the mill, but often ranged 200 miles or more to meet requirements. Of the 1.2 billion board feet of log procurement reported by U.S. mills in the survey, gatewood was the most dominant log source (54%), followed by roadside sources (23%) and stumpage (16%). Over one third of the 1.1 billion board feet of procurement reported by Canadian mills in the survey originated in the United States. On average, Canadian mills that have little or no procurement from Provincial Crown lands routinely range 150 miles or more to meet procurement requirements, predominantly from roadside sources in the United States. A majority of mills in both countries reported that the quality of logs available for purchase and the average volume per log within their woodshed declined between 1994 and 2005. Furthermore, 64% of respondents reported a decline in the average parcel size of forest ownerships within their woodshed over that period. These results may indicate that the sawlog resource is in decline in the region and will be further impacted by development trends.
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