Timber Framers Guild Forums General Discussion Forestry Topics A list for forest policy...

an interesting thing to note with regards to human population is that US birth rates are at an all time low (since records have been kept). In fact, in nearly all developed countries, birth rates are below replacement levels.

We talk of controlling population as a way to reduce consumption, but it seems the developed world has voluntarily begun that process, although it is likely for other reasons.

I think that we will need to find a way to reduce consumption per capita before we begin to see real momentum towards sustainability.

$.02

Good point Gabel, I was trying to look to causes and I think you've come closer to the mark.

Earlywood is the ring of cells put on in the springtime flush of growth. Here that occurs in my eastern white pines around June. In that month or so the entire light ring is laid down and the height jump for the year occurs, 2-3 feet. The entire rest of the year, conifers keep their "leaves", there is no totally dormant time. The entire rest of the year is the latewood ring. The cell diameter is smaller and the cell wall is thicker.
http://web.utk.edu/~grissino/images/conifer3.gif
(photo © 1970 American Forestry Association, from William M. Harlow Inside Wood: Masterpiece of Nature)
More cool old trees here;
http://web.utk.edu/~grissino/gallery.htm

I'm wandering into wood tech probably not the direction the thread should go too heavily. Off to a potluck in our part of Canada in the blue ridge, a remnant colony of balsam and red spruce.

I second Gabel's point. Many more people are here than the earth really "needs" at the moment, which puts pressure on the forests the world over, be it for housing or charcoal.

Here in Maine, because of the housing bust, sawmills have shutdown (and even paper mills are getting sketchy). This is horrible for the locals, yet "good" for forest sustainiblity.

Seems like one typically looses while the other wins. Can it ever be a win-win? It can if we diversify our housing material and create new industries so the forest can have a break.

Another pressure on our (North American)forests that boggles the mind is the new cycle of hurricane rebuilding of homes...I guess I should add wildfires to the list, too.

Seems like we had an epedemic of storms a few years ago that must have kept those sawmills humming supplying material for the Gulf Coast that kept re-building. Hurricane Katrina, etc...

Perhaps this is a policy that needs addressing. Why re-build w/ wood if another storm is only a few years off? If I lived in New Orleans, I'd want a house about 10-feet off the ground and made of heavily reinforced concrete. (My wife might not find it appealing, but the forest would!!)

I had a memorable discussion with someone shortly after Katrina happened. She said the estimated money needed for reconstruction and FEMA and levees, etc. equalled to giving every household $1 million in cash to start anew somewhere else. But of course that alternative did not happen. It was probably never even seriously considered. Politically unpopular. Perhaps it was a "These Colors Don't Run" attitude...

At any rate, It took centuries for the forests to "build" this country. But storms make quick work. The forest is not an endless "bank" of building material no matter what the Home Depot says... But I bet the board room likes hurricanes.

stop me if I'm ranting....