An analysis of the timber situation in the United States: 1952 to 2050.

Abstract

For more than a century, national assessments of supply and demand trends for timber have helped shape perceptions of future commodity consumption and resource trends. These perceptions have guided forest policy. Since 1952, U.S. timber harvest has risen by nearly 67 percent, accompanied by growing timber inventories on both public and private lands, but there has been a decline in the critical private timberland base. The current assessment envisions forest products consumption rising 42 percent by 2050 and marked shifts in the extent and location of domestic and imported supplies. Prospective shifts include a temporary near-term decline in U.S. roundwood harvest and an increase in the share of consumption from imports. In the longer term, U.S. timber harvest expands by 24 percent. As a result of steady improvement in growth and productivity on U.S. forest lands, this increased harvest is accommodated by continued expansion in inventory despite decreasing area in the private timberland base.

Citation

Haynes, Richard W., tech. coor. 2003. An analysis of the timber situation in the United States: 1952 to 2050. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-560. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 254 p