Can the timber industry continue relying on old growth forests indefinitely?
No. We are nearing the end of the supply of old growth wood, and the smartest segments of industry have been diversifing. Those who are not forward thinkers, who don’t understand that all businesses go through cycles, are simply trying to clear yet another forest. . . carrying on business as usual. It should be noted that a large percentage of the trees being logged in the U.S. are being exported to Japan and other countries that long ago depleted their forest resources. Besides removing our home grown natural resources, this exportation of logs is putting our sawmills out of work. Why do businesses always threaten the loss of jobs? They do so because it scares people into siding with them, creating a crisis that stirs emotions. It is the same ploy used by some environmentalists who, in the absence of scicntific data, scream that the sky is falling. It whips their followers into a frenzy. What are the environmentalists saying? From an environmental perspective, the most important issue
