138 



THE OUTLOOK FOR TIMBER IN THE. UNITED STATES 



Timber management of tropical forests also is 

 limited, partly because of custom, lack of capital 

 for forest replacement, and lack of knowledge 

 concerning regenerative processes and cultural 

 requirements of timber species in tbe tropical rain 

 forest. 12 



Thus in the longer run there are serious ques- 

 tions as to whether the world can continue to draw 

 heavily on the tropics for fine, high-quality logs. 

 Utilization has tended to be highly selective, both 

 as to species and sizes of trees cut, and supplies 

 of such preferred timber are diminishing. In West 

 Malaysia, for example, four-fifths of the forest 

 resource available to wood-based plants which do 

 not have timber concessions has been logged over 

 at least once, and supplies of high-grade logs on the 

 open market are in seriously short supply. 13 



The tropical wood industries are nevertheless 

 still expanding and it seems likely that the output 

 of hardwood logs, plywood, veneer, and lumber 

 from natural forests of the Tropics will increase 

 over the next few decades, particularly in South- 

 east Asia. Pringle, for example, has estimated that 

 exports of hardwood products from the Tropics 

 in 1985 will be about twice as high as in 1967. 14 

 The projections for hardwood timber products 

 therefore show sizable increases in imports of ply- 

 wood and veneer, and some increases for lumber. 



The United States has been importing small 

 volumes of tropical hardwood timber products 

 from Mexico, along with some softwood. Although 

 these imports have been declining, Mexico has 

 sufficient timber resources of both hardwoods and 

 softwoods to support an increase in timber har- 

 vests and exports. 



POTENTIAL TIMBER SUPPLIES FROM TROPICAL 

 AND SUBTROPICAL PLANTATIONS 



Plantations of softwoods and some hardwoods 

 in tropical and subtropical areas can be expected 

 to become increasingly important in the next few 

 decades, particularly in supplying pulping and 

 construction materials. Very high growth rates 

 are being achieved by planting and cultivating 

 fast-growing species of pines, eucalyptus, and 

 other species. Both softwood pulpwood and saw 

 logs of acceptable size can be produced in relatively 

 short rotations. 



Plantations in New Zealand, South Africa, and 

 Latin America, for example, are supporting sub- 

 stantial production of pulp and lumber for local 



12 Lamb, Bruce. Tropical American forest resources. 

 Conference on Tropical Hardwoods Proc. New York State 

 College of Forestry, Syracuse. 1969. 



13 Food and Agriculture Organization of the United 

 Nations. The wood based industries of West Malaysia. 

 FOD: SF/MAL 68/516, Tech. Rpt. 4. 1971. 



14 Pringle, S.L. World supply and demand of hardwoods. 

 Conference on Tropical Hardwoods Proc. New York 

 State College of Forestry, Syrcause, N.Y. 1969. 



markets and for export, and planting programs are 

 being expanded in these and other countries. 

 Availablility of capital has been a limiting factor 

 in such expansion and major impacts on the world 

 timber demand-supply situation, therefore, may 

 not be felt for some time to come. 



Teak plantations also are important in Indonesia 

 and Burma, with a reported area in 1967 of about 

 2.5 million acres. 15 Plantations offer no easy 

 answer to increasing supplies of most preferred 

 hardwood species as there is much yet to be 

 learned about the establishment and manage- 

 ment of such stands. But expansion of plantations 

 could help offset declines in supplies of choice 

 species from natural hardwood forests. 



POTENTIAL TIMBER SUPPLIES FROM THE 

 USSR 



The Soviet Union has about one-third of the 

 productive forests in the world — a greater forest 

 area than North America and Europe combined. 

 Also, most of the forest land in the USSR supports 

 softwood timber. 



Harvests of industrial roundwood in the USSR 

 in 1967-69 amounted to 10.2 billion cubic feet — 

 about 18 percent of the total world output 

 (table 106). Exports of timber products in the 

 same year amounted to some 1.1 billion cubic 

 feet, roundwood equivalent. Lumber accounted 

 for nearly half of these exports. Substantial 

 volumes of logs also were exported to Japan and 

 some pulpwood to European countries. 



An estimated 737 million acres of forest land in 

 the USSR have been classed as unsuitable for 

 commercial use because of low sites or inoperable 

 conditions. 16 On approximately 800 million acres 

 cutting has not reached harvest potentials. 

 These are the acres that hold promise for achieving 

 an estimated allowable harvest of roughly 18 

 billion cubic feet annually. 



Population and timber industries are primarily 

 concentrated in the southern and western parts 

 of the USSR, and forests in these regions, amount- 

 ing to an estimated 157 million acres, have been 

 heavily overcut as a consequence. 17 The bulk 

 of unexploited forest resources now lies in northern 

 Russia and Siberia. 



The USSR has been engaged in a major effort 

 to transfer timber harvests to timber surplus 

 areas and to establish pulp, paper, lumber, and 

 plywood plants close to new supply sources. 



, 15 Food and Agriculture Organization of the United 

 Nations. Wood: World trends and prospects. FFHC 

 Basic Study 16, 131 p. Rome. 1967. 



18 Solecki, J. S. Russia-China-Japan, economic growth, 

 resources and forest industries. British Columbia Univ. 

 Victoria, B. C. 1967. 



17 Algvere, Karl Viktor. Forest economy in the USSR. 

 Studia Forestalia Suecica, Nr. 39. Royal College of 

 Forestry, Stockholm, Sweden. 1966. 



