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At least in the West, the vast majority of forestry land is managed by the NFS. Private land is really only used for Christmas tree farms or specialty trees for

At least in the West, the vast majority of forestry land is managed by the NFS. Private land is really only used for Christmas tree farms or specialty trees for the paper industry. For public lands, the timber industry is responsible for their own replanting, but it's largely irrelevant. More timber is lost to wildfire than logging every year, so most replanting falls on the Forest service anyway: https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/reforestation-strategy.pdf https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/reforesta... Edit: Apparently this is all wrong and out of date! While the NFS still owns the majority of forestry land in the West, it only accounts for a tiny portion of the overall lumber produced. From the CRO: > Since the 1990s, FS timber production has decreased, totaling around 2 billion board feet annually since FY1999.56 In 2011, NFS supplied 2% of U.S. wood and paper products. The decline is attributable to a multitude of factors, including (but not limited to) changing legislative directives and related forest management policies and practices—such as increased planning and procedural requirements—as well as changing market dynamics for wood products, public preferences, and litigation. Basically, it became too hard to log NFS land, so logging companies turned to private or state lands instead (and states set their own criteria for how private forestry land needs to be replanted).

soperj 4y ago
> More timber is lost to wildfire than logging every year Gotta wonder how much of that is because of the way they replant? (ie: spray with round up, and then plant GMO pine, eliminating fire break species like aspen).
- dexwiz 4y ago
  Not all timber is created equal. Dedicated logging tracts are a monocrop and are often yellow pine. Forested areas can also be counted as timber, but in a given tract only a certain percentage of trees are worth logging. These are generally high value trees like poplar, walnut, oak, or ash, and they are planted as generational investments.
- seattle_spring 4y ago
  Do you have any sources or literature on GMO pine?
lettergram 4y ago
I’m surrounded by thousands of acres of private land managed by foresting services. Based on my conversations with the service (very large, multiple states, etc), most private land owners are hedge funds. They basically just hold land and lease it to the management services. No cost or risk to the hedge fund. Land values increase typically and they make revenue in the meantime. Further, many states have excessively low taxes for farm land and / or forestry so it’s really a decent investment.
xyzzyz 4y ago
This is also why we have more fires now: because public forests are not logged anymore, so fuel accumulates.
- illiac786 4y ago
  No, fires happen because forests are now made solely of trees, whereas a forest normally has multiple layers, allowing it to retain moisture much better. Of course, climate change and human stupidity are very strong factors as well. Having a fully matured forest takes hundreds of years. Logging it on a regular basis make sure this never happens and also reduces the overall carbon sequestration. This lead to the interesting conundrum which is that even though the actual number of trees is growing, carbon sequestration is going down in forests. (Apologies, unable to find the link about the carbon sequestration decreasing for decades, if someone has it please post, I need to bookmark it.)
  - hulitu 4y ago
    The difference between a forest and a tree plantation: in a forest the soil is wet, in a tree plantation it is dry.

soperj 4y ago

> More timber is lost to wildfire than logging every year Gotta wonder how much of that is because of the way they replant? (ie: spray with round up, and then plant GMO pine, eliminating fire break species like aspen).

dexwiz 4y ago
Not all timber is created equal. Dedicated logging tracts are a monocrop and are often yellow pine. Forested areas can also be counted as timber, but in a given tract only a certain percentage of trees are worth logging. These are generally high value trees like poplar, walnut, oak, or ash, and they are planted as generational investments.
seattle_spring 4y ago
Do you have any sources or literature on GMO pine?

lettergram 4y ago

I’m surrounded by thousands of acres of private land managed by foresting services. Based on my conversations with the service (very large, multiple states, etc), most private land owners are hedge funds. They basically just hold land and lease it to the management services. No cost or risk to the hedge fund. Land values increase typically and they make revenue in the meantime. Further, many states have excessively low taxes for farm land and / or forestry so it’s really a decent investment.

xyzzyz 4y ago

This is also why we have more fires now: because public forests are not logged anymore, so fuel accumulates.

illiac786 4y ago
No, fires happen because forests are now made solely of trees, whereas a forest normally has multiple layers, allowing it to retain moisture much better. Of course, climate change and human stupidity are very strong factors as well. Having a fully matured forest takes hundreds of years. Logging it on a regular basis make sure this never happens and also reduces the overall carbon sequestration. This lead to the interesting conundrum which is that even though the actual number of trees is growing, carbon sequestration is going down in forests. (Apologies, unable to find the link about the carbon sequestration decreasing for decades, if someone has it please post, I need to bookmark it.)
- hulitu 4y ago
  The difference between a forest and a tree plantation: in a forest the soil is wet, in a tree plantation it is dry.