RECENT TRENDS IN FOREST LAND AND TIMBER RESOURCES 



21 



increases in saw-log production have come about 

 partly because of rising log exports. More small 

 logs also are being used for a combination of 

 lumber and pulp chips. 



Veneer log harvests. — Veneer logs made up about 

 9 percent of the total roundwood harvested in 

 1970. Production has risen rapidly in recent 

 decades as a result of rising use of softwood ply- 

 wood. Harvests of domestic hardwood logs for 

 plywood and veneer, on the other hand, have 

 declined in the face of major increases in imports 

 of hardwood plywood and veneer. 



In the early years of softwood plywood manu- 

 facture, large high-quality logs were required but 

 by 1970 a high proportion of the production of 

 softwood plywood was in lower quality sheathing 

 grades. Moreover, with new equipment such as 

 high-speed lathes with retractable chucks small 

 logs can now be profitably processed. 



During the 1960's a spectacular expansion of 

 the softwood plywood industry occurred in the 

 South, and by 1972 this region supplied roughly 

 30 percent of the U.S. output of softwood plywood. 

 Hardwood veneer logs also have come primarily 

 from the South. 



Pulpwood harvests. — Production of round pulp- 

 wood rose from 1.8 billion cubic feet in 1952 to 

 3.8 billion cubic feet in 1970 (fig. 10). In this latter 

 year an additional 1.8 billion cubic feet of wood 

 used in pulping or exported as pulp chips was 

 obtained as byproducts from lumber and veneer 

 manufacture in such forms as slabs, edgings, and 

 veneer cores (table 13). 



The South led the Nation in round pulpwood 

 production in 1970, with more than two-thirds of 

 the total harvest (table 14). The strength and 

 versatility of woodpulp from southern pine, plus 

 historic advantages of low production costs and 

 ready access to eastern and foreign markets have 

 helped increase the South's dominance of the U.S. 

 pulp and paper industry. 



Southern pines and other softwoods made up 

 72 percent of the round pulpwood harvest in 1970. 

 Proportions of hardwoods in pulpwood harvests 

 have risen steadily, however, from 15 percent in 

 1952 to 28 percent in 1970. Equally significant 

 has been a shift away from almost total depend- 

 ence on soft-textured hardwood species such as 

 aspen and gum, to the more plentiful oaks and 

 other species such as hard maple, beech, hickory, 

 and paper birch. These hard hardwoods comprised 

 about one-third of the hardwoods cut for pulp 

 in 1970. 



Most of the round pulpwood produced has come 

 from poletimber sized trees and upper stems of 

 sawtimber trees. However, a substantial propor- 

 tion — roughly one-third of the total cubic volume 

 of roundwood used in 1970 — or 9.5 billion board 

 feet — came from sawtimber. 



Trends in U.S. roundwood harvests 1950 - 71 



Figure 10 



Miscellaneous products harvests. — Production of 

 utility poles, fence posts, mine timbers, piling, 

 cooperage, and other miscellaneous industrial prod- 

 ucts totaled an estimated 0.4 billion cubic feet of 

 roundwood in 1970. This was somewhat below 

 estimated harvests of these products in 1962, and 

 about 40 percent below output in 1952. The largest 

 drop since 1952 has been in posts, mine timbers, 

 and cooperage logs. An additional 0.2 billion cubic 

 feet of plant byproducts also was used in the 

 manufacture of charcoal and other minor products. 



Harvests of round fuelwood in 1970 were 

 estimated at 0.5 billion cubic feet. An additional 

 0.7 billion cubic feet of plant byproducts — sawdust, 

 slabs, edgings, etc. — also were used for fuel. 

 Nearly all of the round fuelwood was used for 

 domestic heating and cooking, and nearly all of 

 the plant byproducts for heat and power in wood 

 processing plants. Fuelwood harvests have dropped 

 rapidly in recent decades as a result of the sub- 

 stitution of oil, gas, coal, and electricity in home 

 cooking, heating, and industrial uses. 



Logging Residues 



Residues of trees left behind after logging 

 operations constitute a fairly sizable part of re- 

 movals of growing stock in 1970 — some 10 percent 

 of all softwood removals and 15 percent of all 

 hardwood removals. These residues include ma- 

 terial from growing stock trees such as broken 

 sections, upper stems, and logs missed in yarding. 



Volumes of logging residues from growing stock 

 in 1970 totaled 1.6 billion cubic feet, or approxi- 

 mately 20 million cords, of solid wood fiber 

 (table 15). About 58 percent of this volume was 

 softwood, and 42 percent hardwood. More than 

 half of the softwood residues were on recent logging 

 operations on the Pacific Coast, and about one- 

 fourth in the South. 



In addition to these residues from growing 



