Timber — A Resource With Growing Demands 



Of course, no one knows what the future holds, and what 

 actually happens may be greatly different from the above 

 projections. However, these projections are consistent with 

 general societal goals of full employment, continued 

 economic growth, rising income, and most current 

 expectations about the future. 



For a long time, timber was the Nation's most important raw 

 material. It was used for homes and furniture, for fuel, for 

 bridges, for railroads and telegraph poles, for fences, and 

 thousands of other uses. And timber is still important. It 

 is the source of about a quarter of all the raw material 

 consumed in the economy. It is also used as heating fuel in 

 millions of homes. 



Although over time there have been ups and downs in the 

 consumption of some timber products, such as lumber and 

 fuel wood, the trends in use in recent decades have been 

 clearly upward (fig. 2). Between 1962 and 1984, for 

 example, the annual consumption of sawlogs for lumber 

 increased by 34 percent, going up from 5.9 billion to 7.9 

 billion cubic feet. Pulpwood use rose by 61 percent, from 

 3.3 billion to 5.3 billion cubic feet per year. The 

 consumption of logs in veneer and plywood went up by 67 

 percent, and fuelwood use from growing stock sources 

 alone 2 more than tripled. 



The total volume of roundwood — the sawlogs. veneer logs, 

 pulpwood. fuelwood, etc. — used for lumber, veneer and 

 plywood, woodpulp, fuel, and all other products increased 

 by 50 percent, rising from 11.1 billion to 16.7 billion cubic 

 feet per year over the 1962 to 1984 period (fig. 3). The 

 consumption of softwood roundwood went up from 8.4 

 billion cubic feet to 12.4 billion. Hardwood roundwood use 

 rose from 2.6 billion to 4.3 billion cubic feet. Most of the 

 increase in hardwood consumption has taken place since the 

 mid-1970's. 



Increased consumption of roundwood has been related to 

 growth in population, economic activity, and income. The 

 projected increases in these things are indicators of higher 

 demands for timber ahead. An additional 77 million people 

 and a total population of 319 million people with 2. 1 times 

 the spendable income of today can only mean much larger 

 demands for timber as well as for all other raw materials 

 and goods and services. 



In terms of volume, most of the future growth in demand 

 is for pulpwood and fuelwood. But substantial increases are 

 also expected for lumber and for most other timber products. 

 The total demand for timber is projected to rise from 16.7 

 billion cubic feet in 1984 to 22.3 billion in 2030 (fig. 3). 

 This rise, although substantial, occurs over a 45-year period 

 and is much below the rate of increase recorded during the 

 last two and a half decades. 



: Large volumes of wood used for fuel (2.3 billion cubic feet in l^S4i are 

 produced from nongrowing stock sources. 



