that's an excellent point that i hadn't considered. maybe they realize (correctly or incorrectly) that there's no way to sustain their business at the level to

that's an excellent point that i hadn't considered. maybe they realize (correctly or incorrectly) that there's no way to sustain their business at the level to which they're accustomed, so they're just slash-and-burning the whole thing and taking the lumber to build new houses.