Are We Cutting Trees Faster Than We Are Growing Them?

Growth rates exceed harvest rates in Oregon by a wide margin. According to a 1989 Oregon State University study, the long-term sustainable timber harvest in the state is about 7.5 billion board feet per year. Compared to this benchmark, the 1997 harvest was 4.1 billion board feet.

On nonfederal land, according to the OSU study, the long-term sustainable baseline harvest is 3.7 billion board feet per year. In 1997, approximately 3.4 billion board feet were harvested on these lands. On federal lands, the OSU study calculated the sustainable harvest level at 3.8 billion board feet per year. Harvest volume on federal lands in 1997 was 0.67 billion board feet. (A decrease in the land base available for harvest under the Northwest Forest Plan changed the benchmark for sustainable harvest on federal lands from 3.8 billion board feet to 1.3 billion board feet per year.)

In recent years, policy on federal lands has been directed toward creating more late-successional forests by restricting harvests, but as Dr. John Beuter, an expert in forestry and forest economics, puts it, "regardless of what is finally decided on federal lands, Oregon will not run out of timber."

SOURCE: Oregon Forest Resources Institute, Forest Fact Book.