Sustainable Forestry in New England

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Sustainable Forestry in New England

• linear problems,
• chicken cyclical solutions

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Sustainable Forestry! Who are you? Where do you
come from?
Sustained Yield Forestry - harvest volume
growth volume - operates on the edge of a
cost-benefit analysis - focuses on production (of
timber) sounds like neoclassical economics...
Sustainable Forestry - considers externalities
and multiple values - looks to the future
(long-term thinking) - uses low impact
systems sounds like ecological economics...
3

• Low Impact means what it says . . .
• techniques (e.g. directional felling)
• equipment (e.g. horses, forwarders, etc.)
• timing (depending on soils)
• no chemicals
• leave nutrients
• proper treatment of bumpers
• manage for more than timber
  (e.g. structural diversity)

With respect to timber harvests ensuring that
non-timber values and future timber values are
not compromised
DEPENDS ON THE LOGGERS SKILL AND INCLINATION
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OK, sustainable forestry sounds nice. Why
isnt everyone doing it? What can be done to
change that?
thats my paper in a nutshell...
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Who is everyone?

• 71 of U.S. forest land is privately owned
• the vast majority of these owners are
  non-industrial
• although wood and fiber production has
  traditionally been focused on industrial land,
  this is changing
• increasing demand for wood (linked to
  consumption)
• increasing reluctance of industry to own land
• decreasing viable woodlands (development)
• decreasing harvest on public land

so my focus is on private non-industrial
woodland owners in New England
Remember sustainability is a global issue as
well. Sustainable harvests in New England can
reduce unsustainable harvests elsewhere in the
world.
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• Problems facing sustainable forestry
  in New England
• land parcelization people cannot afford to
  maintain a working forest
• taxes property, income, estate. Misvaluation
  of forests worth!
• forests essentially subsidize development
• money doesnt grow on trees (timber is a low
  return investment)
• stumpage rarely beats inflation
• long time period (alternative returns are
  higher, and investors are not likely to enjoy the
  returns)
• low liquidity of timber
• low collaterability of land
• constant changes in capital gains treatment

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Parcelization of land leads to fragmentation of
purpose!

• smaller tracts are less economical to manage
• more costs for the logger (equipment transport
  etc.)
• 25-50 acres is considered minimum size
• year 2000 9.9 million nonindustrial private
  landowners, 94 own less than 100 acres, average
  24 acres! And its getting smaller (expected
  average in 2010 17 acres)
• new owners are often philosophically opposed to
  harvesting
• harder to manage large-scale needs
• smaller tracts produce less income and less
  steady income

Parcelization threatens local and global
sustainable forestry local jobs are lost and
timber needs are met elsewhere (over-harvested
international supplies)
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Jobs you say? Remember, sustainable forestry
depends on the chicken logger.
While there are some economic incentives to help
landowners practice sustainable forestry (e.g.
current-use, cost-sharing, increasing stand
value, etc.), there is no incentive for the
logger!
The logger only stays in this marginal business
by being competitive leads to high grading,
using the most economically efficient machinery,
polluting with leaky equipment, ignoring effects
on residuals...
The most efficient machinery is non labor
intensive (less jobs). However, it is expensive
(servicing of debt causing further short-term
practices).
10minutes
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There are many potential top down solutions. .
. tax reforms, environmental regulations,
certifications, selective sales taxes,
importation tariffs, subsidies, cost-sharing,
land/development right buyouts. . . However,
the increasing awareness of sustainable forestry
issues presents the opportunity for bottom up
solutions that could be longer lasting. . . As
local timber harvesting must remain part of the
strategy to maintain forest land and prevent
global unsustainable resource use, lets start
with creating alternatives to todays problematic
harvesting systems. . .
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HORSE LOGGING low impact at its best

• less soil damage
• narrower skid trails
• less damage to residual trees
• economically feasible on small lots
• more appealing to new landowners
• quiet
• not fossil fuel dependent
• low start-up cost
• not servicing debt
• labor intensive ( more jobs 4 horse loggers
  can make a living off of the
• same amount of timber as 1 average
  conventional logger)
• horse loggers earning mostly stay in the
  community
• non-polluting
• less logger injury/ lower workmans comp. rates
• cost of maintaining a horse for one year is
  less than one new skidder tire

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How to make it all happen creating a market with
landowner cooperatives
Co-ops could perform many functions economies
of scale for landowners -equipment
sharing -access to foresters -coordinated
large-scale mngmt. -marketing and trucking
logs -draftwood premium information
networking -increasing stewardship
ethic -increasing consumption awareness value
added possibilities -sawmill -wood shop
lobbying power for top down changes create a
market for horse loggers and other sustainable
operators impliment alternative forms of
logger payment (providing sustainability
incentives)
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treat the illness, not the symptoms...
Making sustainable forestry happen requires a
paradigm shift from a linear and progressive
conception of time to a cyclical understanding of
our consumption and production, our future and
our past. By thinking in forest time we can
find that moving backward to old ways can lead us
forward to a healthier future.
cantcha get the hoss to do it?
To see a world in a grain of sand And a heaven in
a wild flower, Hold infinity in the palm of your
hand And eternity in an hour. -William Blake