2000 national fire plan and its ramifications for wood supply from western national forests

Abstract

Will the National Forests become a more reliable supplier of timber again in conjunction with the National Fire Plan? The National Forests represent a major potential source of wood fiber in the West. They occupy 48% of the commercial forestland, hold 63% of the region?s softwood growing stock, and contribute 48% of its net annual growth. But in California, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington, timber sales have declined from an average of 8 billion board feet per year during 1960-1 990 to about 1.5 billion board feet since. The new millennium saw the lowest volumes offered since the Great Depression at less than 700 million board feet. This paper looks at historical contributions of the National Forests to the region?s timber supply and at contemporary prospects for supply in the context of the recently developed National Fire Plan.

Citation

Spelter, Henry; Ince, Peter. 2001. 2000 national fire plan and its ramifications for wood supply from western national forests. 2000 Statistical yearbook of the western lumber industry. Portland, Or. : Western Wood Products Association, Economic Services Dept., [2001?]: pages 9-12.