Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Science, Economics, and Politics:
U.S. National Forests
Debate continues regarding whether U.S. national
forests should be managed primarily for timber, their
ecological services, recreation, or a mix of these uses.
For decades, controversy has swirled over the use of
resources in the national forests. Timber companies
push to cut as much of this timber in these forests as
possible at low prices. Biodiversity experts and envi-
ronmentalists call for sharply reducing or eliminating
tree harvesting in national forests and using more
sustainable forest management practices (Figure 8-15)
for timber cutting in these forests. They believe that
national forests should be managed primarily to pro-
vide recreation and to sustain biodiversity, water re-
sources, and other ecological services.
The Forest Service's timber-cutting program loses
money because the revenues from timber sales do not
cover the expenses of road building, timber sale prepa-
ration, administration, and other overhead costs. Be-
cause of such government subsidies, timber sales from
U.S. federal lands have lost money for taxpayers in 97
of the last 100 years!
Figure 8-17 lists the advantages and disadvan-
tages of logging in national forests. According to a
2000 study by the accounting firm Econorthwest,
recreation, hunting, and fishing in national forests add
ten times more money to the national economy and
provide seven times more jobs than does extraction of
timber and other resources.
T rade-Offs
Logging in U.S. National Forests
Advantages
Disadvantages
Helps meet
country's timber
needs
Provides only 4% of
timber needs
Ample private
forest land to meet
timber needs
Cut areas grow
back
Has little effect on
timber and paper
prices
Keeps lumber
and paper prices
down
Damages nearby
rivers and fisheries
Recreation in
national forests
provides more local
jobs and income
for local
communities than
logging
Provides jobs in
nearby
communities
Promotes
economic growth
in nearby
communities
Decreases
recreational
opportunities
Figure 8-17
Trade-offs:
advantages and disadvantages of
allowing logging in U.S. national forests.
Critical thinking: pick
the single advantage and disadvantage that you think are the
most important.
x
H
OW
W
OULD
Y
OU
V
OTE
?
Should logging in U.S. national
forests be banned? Cast your vote online at http://biology
.brookscole.com/miller11.
In today's global economy, the United States faces a
surplus of domestic timber and a declining role in the
global wood products industry. Timber and pulpwood
for making paper can be produced faster and more
efficiently in the cultivated tree plantations found in
the temperate and tropical regions of the southern
hemisphere.
As a result, the United States will likely become a
minor player in the global production of wood-based
products such as lumber and pulp. Imports of timber
and paper from other parts of the world will likely
supply an increasing share of U.S. demand for wood
products.
This trend could help preserve the nation's bio-
diversity by decreasing the pressure to clear-cut old-
growth and second-growth forests on public and
private lands. It is being enhanced by the increased re-
placement of solid wood for structural purposes with
engineered wood products made by gluing small
pieces of wood together.
Conversely, this shift in timber production to
other countries could decrease biodiversity and water-
shed protection in the United States. Most forested
land in the United States is privately owned, and pri-
One way to reduce the pressure to harvest trees
for paper production in national and private forests
is to make paper by using fiber that does not come
from trees.
Tr ee-free fibers
for making paper come from
two sources:
agricultural residues
left over from crops
(such as wheat, rice, and sugar) and
fast-growing crops
(such as kenaf and industrial hemp).
China uses tree-free pulp from rice straw and
other agricultural wastes to make almost two-thirds of
its paper. Most of the small amount of tree-free paper
produced in the United States is made from the fibers
of a rapidly growing woody annual plant called
kenaf
(pronounced “kuh-NAHF”; Figure 8-18).
Economics: American Forests
in a Globalized Economy
Efficient production of timber from tree plantations in
temperate and tropical countries in the southern
hemisphere is decreasing the need for timber
production in the United States.
