THE OUTLOOK FOR TIMBER IN THE UNITED STATES 



10. A partial alternative in meeting prospective 

 timber supply problems is to increase timber 

 imports from Canada and other wood surplus 

 countries. Rising exports of timber products, 

 however, have been offsetting a substantial part 

 of the increase in timber imports. 



About half a century ago the United States 

 ceased to be self-sufficient in timber products and 

 since then has depended increasingly on net im- 

 ports from other countries. Imports of timber 

 products reached a total of 2.9 billion cubic feet, 

 roundwood equivalent, in 1972. This represented 

 19 percent of the total U.S. domestic and export 

 demand for timber products. 



Timber imports obtained largely from Canada 

 made up about 19 percent of total U.S. supplies 

 of lumber and 25 percent of total U.S. pulp and 

 paper supplies in 1972. More than 60 percent of 

 the hardwood plywood and veneer consumed in 

 the United States was obtained from Southeast 

 Asia and other tropical areas. 



With rising prices of timber, imports from 

 Canada and from tropical areas have been assumed 

 to increase substantially over the next three 

 decades, mainly in the form of softwood lumber, 

 pulp and paper, and hardwood veneer and ply- 

 wood. In time, however, rising world demands for 

 timber and a general tightening of the world timber 

 supply situation seem likely to limit such import 

 potentials. 



Exports of forest products also have increased 

 substantially in recent years, in large part as a 

 result of large Japanese purchases of logs and pulp 

 chips, expanding world markets for kraft pulp 

 and liner board, and continued exports of lumber. 

 In 1972, about 9 percent of the total U.S. supply 

 of timber products, or 1.3 billion cubic feet round- 

 wood equivalent, was exported to various parts of 

 the world. Along with prospective increases in 

 timber imports in future 3^ears, some further 

 increases in exports from the United States have 

 been assumed. 



Net imports in 1972 of 1.6 billion cubic feet 

 made up nearly 11 percent of the total consump- 

 tion of timber products in the United States. 

 Net imports have been estimated to increase to 

 around 2.8 billion cubic feet, roundwood equiva- 

 lent, by 2000, with prices of lumber, for example, 

 rising 1.5 percent per year. But such dependence 

 on other countries, while important, appears to 

 offer only a partial means of meeting the growing 

 demands for timber products in the United States. 



11. Greater use of nonwood materials is a possible 

 alternative, although this appears to have un- 

 desirable environmental and economic impacts. 



The relative importance of timber products in 

 the U.S. economy has changed greatly over time 

 as other raw materials such as steel, concrete, and 

 aluminum have replaced or supplemented wood in 



various uses. With increased prices and insufficient 

 supplies of timber, such continuing substitution 

 can be expected. 



While there are no immediate threats of short- 

 ages of wood substitutes, continued geometric 

 growth in materials use, such as experienced in 

 the past and in prospect in coming decades, will 

 require enormous quantities of materials and 

 entail serious environmental problems. Most 

 competing products such as steel, aluminum, and 

 plastics are derived from depletable resources — 

 in contrast to timber which is renewable. Thus 

 it is possible that the historical stability in 

 relative prices of competing materials may be 

 replaced by rising real costs of these materials. 



Timber products can be produced with relatively 

 low energy requirements for processing and low 

 pollution impacts compared with most alter- 

 natives. Energy requirements for processing steel 

 for framing exterior walls of houses, for example, 

 amount to more than three times the energy 

 required for processing lumber for the same use. 



Production of competitive materials also ordi- 

 narily results in more serious air, water, or land 

 pollution problems than in the case of wood 

 products — both directly and indirectly through 

 the generation of energy required for processing 

 different materials. Wood products that are not 

 recycled also have an important characteristic of 

 being biodegradable. 



If prices of timber products rise relative to 

 prices of substitute materials, substitutes will, 

 of course, be used. But in view of accelerating 

 world use of raw materials, increased need for 

 foreign exchange to finance imports of such 

 materials, and higher energy requirements and 

 pollution impacts than with use of timber prod- 

 ucts, greater dependence on substitutes for 

 timber may not be a desirable alternative. 



For such reasons long-run demands for wood, 

 and related justifications of forestry programs, 

 could increase considerably more than indicated 

 by projections in this study. 



12. Better utilization of available supplies is a 

 partial answer to problems of timber supply. 



Major progress has been made in recent years 

 in the use of slabs, edgings, veneer cores, and 

 other similar material from lumber and plywood 

 operations for pulp, particleboard, and other 

 products. In 1970, nearly three-fourths of all 

 such material produced at sawmills and other 

 primary processing plants, plus some additional 

 material from secondary manufacturing plants, 

 was utilized in this way. Such byproducts com- 

 prised 35 percent of the 72 million cords of pulp- 

 wood used by U.S. pulpmills in 1972. 



Despite the progress made, unused plant resi- 

 dues still represent a sizable resource. In 1970, 

 unused chippable material at primary manufac- 

 turing plants amounted to 0.4 billion cubic feet 



