Connection: Timber From Abroad

Environmental concerns have led to drastic reductions in the amount of timber cut in U.S. federal forests.

Americans are using more lumber than ever, but much of it is imported from Canada. Timber harvest on the 155 national forests has declined from an average of about 12 billion board feet a year in the 1980s to about 3 billion board feet last year.

Loggers on federal lands in Washington and Oregon cut just 19 percent as much in 1999 as they did in 1990, said Rex Holloway, Forest Service spokesman.

Clearcuts on federal lands are largely a thing of the past, Holloway said. Where they are allowed, loggers must leave clumps of trees. East of the Cascade Mountains in Washington and Oregon, loggers on federal forests can’t cut trees larger than 21 inches in diameter.

Now the nation is debating whether to prohibit roads in areas that currently are roadless. Loggers say that would virtually eliminate the possibility of cutting in those areas. Environmentalists and many foresters say those trees would have been cut long ago if it were economically feasible to do so.

Despite the federal restrictions, the nation’s output of timber declined only slightly in the 1990s, according to the Western Wood Products Association. That was possible because state and private forests produced slightly more last year than in the early 1990s.

The amount of lumber exported from the United States declined by half, to about 1.4 billion board feet, said Jim Yuhas of the Western Wood Products Association. But imports increased significantly.

In 1990, the nation imported 12 billion board feet of lumber. Nine years later, that had increased to 19.2 billion board feet. Nearly 95 percent of the imported lumber comes from Canada. Brazil, Chile and Mexico provide the remaining 5 percent, with Mexico’s share growing, Yuhas said.