The News Room
» Press Releases » Timber Harvests Decrease by 5.4 Percent as California Continues to Fall Short in Meeting Residents' Wood Product Needs
Timber Harvests Decrease by 5.4 Percent as California Continues to Fall Short in Meeting Residents' Wood Product Needs
For More Information:
Kathleen Kahrl, 530-823-2363
kk@calforests.org
CALIFORNIA FOREST PRODUCTS COMMISSION
RELEASES ANNUAL 'STATE OF THE INDUSTRY' REPORT
California Lags Behind Oregon and Washington
in Meeting Residents' Wood Needs
AUBURN, Calif. - Despite a renewed focus on using green building products like wood, California's wood products industry harvested less in 2006 than in the previous year, the California Forest Products Commission said today in its annual state of the industry report.
The 5.4 percent decline was largely due to less harvesting on government-owned lands in California and put the state far behind other states, such as Washington and Oregon, in meeting the wood needs of its residents.
About 1.6 billion board feet of wood was harvested in California, down from 1.7 billion board feet in 2005, according to statistics compiled by the California Board of Equalization.
Comparatively, neighboring Oregon and Washington harvested far more trees than California and more than met the wood products needs of their residents, producing over 3.5 billion board feet of lumber in each state alone. This was more than twice the amount harvested in California.
California has about 40 million acres of forestland, whereas Oregon has 28.8 million acres and Washington has 23 million acres of forestland, yet both states are still out-producing California by considerable amounts.
"As recently as 30 years ago, we harvested enough trees in California to meet the wood products needs of our residents," said Donn Zea, President of the California Forest Products Commission. "Today, we meet less than 20 percent of the needs of our residents, even though we have abundant forests that are overgrown."
"In so many ways, California has led the nation in adopting environmentally friendly principles," Zea said. "However, implementing policies that prevent or discourage sustainable forestry leads to a shirking of our responsibility to meet our wood product needs locally."
In 1980, California produced about 130 board feet of lumber per resident. That number, as of 2006, has dropped to only 48 board feet of lumber per resident. By comparison, Oregon produces nearly 1,000 board feet of lumber per resident and Washington produces nearly 600 board feet of lumber per resident.
Zea said he is hopeful that harvesting will increase on government-owned land where overcrowded forests present increased fire risks. Since 1990, harvests on government-owned land are down 85 percent and there is an estimated 2 billion board feet of growth each year.
"Government leaders, environmental organizations and citizens recognize that wood is a unique, renewable building product," Zea said. "While trees can be replanted and re-grown, materials used to create concrete and steel are not renewable and require large amounts of fossil fuels in their production. The cycle of planting, growth, and harvesting removes and stores carbon while producing oxygen, and provides society with needed wood products that can store carbon for hundreds of years."
California laws promote sustainable forestry practices on private land that ensure forests are harvested in a way that sets the stage for forests to last for future generations.
"We in California have a unique capability to meet our wood product needs and lessen our reliance on wood from other areas, many of which don't have the regulatory requirements that we expect," Zea said. "At the same time, we have forests on public lands that are in dire need of thinning to help prevent catastrophic wildfires and beetle infestations."
For more information about the California Forest Products Commission, please visit www.calforests.org
Editor's Note: You can obtain 2006 harvest figures by County from the Forest Products Commission as well as historical statistics on a County-by-County basis.
# # #