Project Report No. 46, Loblolly Pine Plantations in East Texas Two Harvest Schedules No Thinning & Final Harvest at 25 Years Thin at 10 Years & Final Harvest at 25 Years Sawlog/Veneer Wood Flow Comparison, A Simulation

DOES A THINNING AT 10 YEARS WITH FINAL HARVEST AT 25 YEARS INCREASE SAWLOG/VENEER 1000 FLOW? DOES A THINNING AT 10 YEARS WITH FINAL HARVEST AT 25 YEARS INCREASE NET PRESENT VALUE

Optimal management of a flammable forest providing timber and carbon sequestration benefits: an Australian case study

In deciding to keep or fell a forest stand given its age, the risk of loss of timber through wildfire is an important consideration. If trees also have value from sequestration of carbon, another effect of fire is the unplanned loss of stored carbon. Factors affecting the decision to keep or fell trees, and how much to spend on fire protection, are investigated using stochastic dynamic programming, using carbon sequestration in stands of mountain ash in Victoria as a case study. The effect of treating sawlogs as a permanent carbon sink after harvesting is explored.Forest management, timber, carbon, dynamic, programming, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Project Report No. 46, Loblolly Pine Plantations in East Texas Two Harvest Schedules No Thinning & Final Harvest at 25 Years Thin at 10 Years & Final Harvest at 25 Years Sawlog/Veneer Wood Flow Comparison, A Simulation

DOES A THINNING AT 10 YEARS WITH FINAL HARVEST AT 25 YEARS INCREASE SAWLOG/VENEER 1000 FLOW? DOES A THINNING AT 10 YEARS WITH FINAL HARVEST AT 25 YEARS INCREASE NET PRESENT VALUE

TECHNOLOGICAL ADAPTATION TO RESOURCE SCARCITY IN THE U.S. LUMBER INDUSTRY

This paper provides an econometric investigation of the role of a renewable natural resource, sawlogs, in the production of lumber over the period 1950-1974. The economic scarcity of sawlogs is confirmed. Within a given production technology, the potential for substitution among capital, labor and sawlog inputs is greatly restricted but not impossible. Technological change has been strongly labor-saving but has had a negligible effect on wood requirements. Consequently, the real price of lumber has risen, stimulating development of substitute wood products. Continued decline of the industry is anticipated.Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Portable Sawmilling Costs for Landholders in Western Queensland

Portable sawmilling trials with Acacia aneura (mulga) and A. cambagei (gidgee) have been undertaken to estimate the private landholder costs associated with small-scale timber production from woodlands in western Queensland, Australia. A time study of harvesting and milling operations facilitated estimation of landholder labour input requirements. The scarcity and small size of millable logs, coupled with the prevalence of timber defects, make harvesting and portable sawmilling of western Queensland acacias an expensive undertaking for landholders. The cost of producing sawn timber that meets the High Feature (HF) grade of Australian Standard AS2796 is estimated at between A$3,000-m3 and A$3,400/m3 of HF timber.

Project Report No. 48, Loblolly Pine Plantations in East Texas Two Harvest Schedules No Thinning & Final Harvest at 30 years, Thin at 15 Years & Final Harvest at 30 years, Sawlog/Veneer Wood Flow Comparison, A Simulation

DOES A THINNING AT 15 YEARS WITH FINAL HARVEST AT 30 YEARS INCREASE SAWLOG/VENEER WOOD FLOW? DOES A THINNING AT 15 YEARS WITH FINAL HARVEST AT 30 YEARS INCREASE NET PRESENT VALUE

Competitive neutrality in forestry

„h States and Territories have agreed to apply competitive neutrality (CN) requirements to their commercial forestry activities. The implementation of CN varies between jurisdictions and encompasses some differences in approach. „h Several studies have pointed to underpricing of logs by State forest agencies in past years. Underpricing can affect the balance between public and private sector wood production. It can also affect the return the community achieves on its forest assets and may adversely influence agency investment and harvesting decisions. „h CN requires forest agencies to act more commercially, including covering all costs and earning a commercially acceptable rate of return on assets. This should reduce the likelihood of agencies underpricing logs, although difficulties in interpreting rates of return and related information can make it difficult to judge if logs have been sold at their full market value. „h To help assess compliance with CN, the market value of logs can be estimated by calculating their residual value ¡X a value derived by subtracting harvesting, transport and processing costs from prevailing international prices of processed wood products.competitive neutrality - forestry - log pricing

Project Report No. 48, Loblolly Pine Plantations in East Texas Two Harvest Schedules No Thinning & Final Harvest at 30 years, Thin at 15 Years & Final Harvest at 30 years, Sawlog/Veneer Wood Flow Comparison, A Simulation

DOES A THINNING AT 15 YEARS WITH FINAL HARVEST AT 30 YEARS INCREASE SAWLOG/VENEER WOOD FLOW? DOES A THINNING AT 15 YEARS WITH FINAL HARVEST AT 30 YEARS INCREASE NET PRESENT VALUE

QUALITY ADJUSTED PRICE INDICES FOR DOUGLAS-FIR TIMBER

The purpose of this paper is to determine if there have been systematic changes in the characteristics of Douglas-fir stumpage sold on National Forests in the Pacific Northwest that would significantly bias the price of stumpage. Four hedonic methods were used to develop indices of pure price change holding stumpage characteristics constant. None indicated a significant trend in quality over the period 1968 to 1978. Quality differences, however, appeared to play a role in the year-to-year price changes. The advantage and inconveniences of each indexing method and their use for various purposes are discussed.Demand and Price Analysis,

Economic Dynamics and Forest Clearing: A Spatial Econometric Analysis for Indonesia- Working Paper 280

This paper uses a large panel database to investigate the determinants of forest clearing in Indonesian kabupatens since 2005. Our study incorporates short-run changes in prices and demand for palm oil and wood products, as well as the exchange rate, the real interest rate, land-use zoning, forest protection, the estimated opportunity cost of forested land, the quality of local governance, the poverty rate, population density, the availability of communications infrastructure, transport cost, and local rainfall and terrain slope. Our econometric results highlight the role of dynamic economic factors in forest clearing. We find significant roles for lagged changes in all the short-run economic variables—product prices, demands, the exchange rate and the real interest rate—as well as communications infrastructure, some types of commercial zoning, rainfall, and terrain slope. We find no significance for the other variables, and the absence of impact for protected-area status is particularly notable. Our results strongly support the model of forest clearing as an investment that is highly sensitive to expectations about future forest product prices and demands, as well as changes in the cost of capital (indexed by the real interest rate), the relative cost of local inputs (indexed by the exchange rate), and the cost of land clearing (indexed by local precipitation). By implication, the opportunity cost of forested land fluctuates widely with changes in international markets and decisions by Indonesia’s financial authorities about the exchange and interest rates. Our results suggest that forest conservation programs are unlikely to succeed if they ignore such powerful force.