areas. Somewhat smaller 

 mills cut shortleaf (Pinus 

 echinata Mill.) and other 

 pine species in the 

 Piedmont. 



The southern industry today 

 little resembles the mills or 

 philosophies of these early 

 sawmill forebears. Today's 

 southern timber industry 

 consists primarily of 

 sawmills, plywood plants, 

 pole-treating plants, and 

 pulpmills, all utilizing timber 

 diameters previously 

 considered uneconomical 

 or marginal at best. 



Pulpmills now use pine 

 timbers at the small end of 

 the spectrum, primarily 

 from trees 4-8 inches in 

 diameter. Small-log sawmills 

 utilize stems from 8- to 

 1 4-inch trees, and plywood 

 plants use timber from 

 trees greater than 14 inches 

 in diameter. 



To varying degrees, many 

 plants use the residual fiber 

 left from commercial logging 

 jobs, including bark, limbs, 

 branches, and leaves, as 

 fuel in their boilers. The 

 Organization of Petroleum 

 Exporting Countries 

 (OPEC), with its attempts to 

 control oil prices and 

 quantities, is providing the 

 economic impetus for this 

 utilization. 



Where a market for this 

 residual fiber for fuel is 

 available, it is strikingly 

 reducing the cost of forest 

 management by eliminating 

 or greatly lowering 

 site-preparation costs 

 before planting. 



Perhaps one of the greatest 

 facts of economic portent, 

 not fully recognized by 

 traditional thinkers, is that 

 each of these three major 

 facility types (pulpmills, 

 sawmills, and plywood 

 mills) can within reasonable 

 physical and economic 

 ranges utilize material of 

 the same size. Pulpmills 

 typically have chippers to 

 handle material 24 inches 

 in diameter. Small-log 

 sawmills will frequently cut 

 6-inch to 24-inch material. 

 And plywood plants are 

 being automated to peel 

 7-inch veneer bolts, 

 although management 

 prefers larger sizes. 



Competition for and 

 utilization of timber sizes in 

 the future may well be 

 decided on a week-to-week 

 basis by prices obtainable 

 for end products and their 

 manufacturing costs. This 

 will mark a significant 

 departure from the 

 time-honored classification 

 of trees by sizes into 

 pulpwood, small logs, large 

 logs, poles, and veneer 

 logs. 



