A New Balance Will Need to Be Achieved

摘要

From the late 1800s well into the latter part of the 20th century the expectation was for a future of timber scarcity. However, with the dramatic increases in forest growth and productivity brought on by the advent of planted and intensively managed forests, the expectation by the beginning of the 21st century was for a mature industry with little net expansion. Indeed, the policy decision to dramatically reduce timber harvests on the National Forests was feasible only because harvest declines on public forestlands could readily be offset by the increases in the productivity of private forests.rnAssociated with the changed perceptions have been massive changes in America's private forest ownership. The dominant force has been the divestiture of forestlands by previously integrated forest products firms. For example, International Paper, whose forest once exceed seven million acres, today has virtually no forestlands. The same is true for Georgia Pacific and several other large processing firms.