An Evaluation of Canadian and U.S. Policies of Log and Lumber Markets

The recent lumber trade war between Canada and the United States deals with Canadian stumpage policies, Canada’s log export controls, and U.S. retaliatory duty. This study determines the appropriate level of U.S. countervailing duty (CVD) by employing a vertically interrelated log–lumber model. The theoretical results show that the U.S. CVD can be greater (will be less) than the Canadian subsidy for a vertically related log–lumbermarket (for lumber market only). Empirical results support the theoretical findings in that the U.S. CVD for the log–lumber market (lumber market alone) is 1.55 (0.91) times the Canadian subsidy.countervailing duty, dispute, log, lumber, subsidy, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade, Political Economy, F13,

Are the Economics of a Sustainable Maine Forest Sustainable?

Mike LeVert, Charles Colgan and Charles Lawton discuss the transformation of the economic environment of Maine’s forests over the past two decades. Paper companies have sold most of their holdings; residential and conservation demand for land has increased; forestland prices have skyrocketed; and new classes of landowners have different strategies, objectives, and time horizons than the old industrial landowners. The authors believe that management of Maine’s forests must now address changes in the economic environment with the same intensity as threats such as the spruce budworm were addressed if we are to keep Maine’s forests as forests

New decision support tools for forest tactical and operational planning

Doutoramento em Engenharia Florestal e dos Recursos Florestais - Instituto Superior de AgronomiaThe economic importance of the forest resources and the Portuguese forest-based industries motivated several studies over the last 15 years, particularly on strategic forest planning. This thesis focuses on the forest planning processes at tactical and operational level (FTOP). These problems relate to harvesting, transportation, storing, and delivering the forest products to the mills. Innovative Operation Research methods and Decision Support Systems (DSS) were developed to address some of these problems that are prevalent in Portugal. Specifically, Study I integrates harvest scheduling, pulpwood assortment, and assignment decisions at tactical level. The solution method was based in problem decomposition, combining heuristics and mathematical programming algorithms. Study II presents a solution approach based on Revenue Management principles for the reception of Raw Materials. This operational problem avoids truck congestion during the operation of pulpwood delivery. Study III uses Enterprise Architecture to design a DSS for integrating the operations performed over the pulpwood supply chain. Study IV tests this approach on a toolbox that handled the complexity of the interactions among the agents engaged on forest planning at regional level. Study V proposes an innovative technological framework that combines forest planning with forest operations' control

Comparative advantages of small-scale forestry among emerging forest tenures

Forestland tenure institutions and patterns are in a period of rapid change in the USA. Historically dominant forestland tenures are disappearing, and new tenures are emerging. Traditional, vertically-integrated forest products firms have shed their forestland holdings to be picked up by Timber Investment Management Organizations (TIMOs) and Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), increasing numbers of private individuals and families are purchasing small rural tracts, and some communities are developing innovative means to gain control over nearby forestlands in order to protect these lands from commercial real estate development. Within this context of rapid ownership change, small-scale forest owners including families and communities find themselves at a competitive disadvantage, relative to large corporate owners, in wood commodity markets. This paper considers how small-scale forest tenures, relative to large corporate tenures, may be advantageous to society with regard to selected ecological, social, and economic factors. While the paper primarily draws upon illustrations from the United States Pacific Northwest, its themes are global in nature

Log Supply and Price Adjustment Mechanisms in Industrialized Economies: Impacts on Small-scale Forest Farmer

Log pricing and supply arrangements vary between countries. Some countries use open markets to determine log prices while others regulate supply and offer medium to long-term contracts to log buyers. A study of four industrialised countries - the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Australia - is undertaken to compare variations in log pricing methodologies and contract price adjustment mechanisms. Market concentration and market power is found to vary between these countries. Variations also exist in supply arrangements, contract term and price adjustment mechanisms both between countries and across regional jurisdictions within each country. The United States and New Zealand are strongly market oriented while Canada and Australia remain highly regulated. Both Canada and Australia use a weighted wood price index to adjust contract log prices. Policies are required in these regulated markets to encourage entry of small-scale suppliers if seller concentration is to be reduced and competitive market efficiency increased

Simulating Effects of Supply Chain Configuration on Industrial Dynamics in the Forest Sector

Two wood games are developed based on the structure and dynamics of the Beer Game. By introducing divergent and convergent flows in the supply chain, the relevance to the forest sector is increased. Using eight players in each run, the game is, in essence, a simulation tool that includes the human aspect in decision-making. The wood game is used to simulate the challenges that may be met when introducing a greater degree of customer orientation in the forest sector. Performance is measured using total system costs, amplification of demand variation and basic statistics of order rates. Results from pilot experiments indicate that performance and predictability of the system are negatively affected by increasing the complexity of the supply chain. The level of demand distortion varies considerably between different games. Distorted demand signals may complicate the planning and execution of upstream operations

Systems Analysis in Forestry and Forest Industries

The purpose of this book is to present a variety of articles revealing the state of the art of applications of systems analysis techniques to problems of the forest sector. Such applications cover a vast range of issues in forestry and the forest industry. They include the dynamics of the forest ecosystem, optimal forest management, the roundwood market, forest industrial strategy, regional and national forest sector policy as well as international trade in forest products. Forest industrial applications at mill level, such as optimal paper trimming, cutting, and production scheduling, are however, excluded

Economic and Spatial Impacts of a Wildlife Habitat Policy on Forest Management

Regulations protecting habitat of forest-dwelling species often impact forest management practices. Those impacts may be mutually beneficial to both wildlife and forestry or they may lead to unanticipated negative outcomes, such as an associated economic cost compared to management free from habitat regulations. One example of a regulation that impacts forest management is the zoning of winter habitat of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in Maine, where deer abundance has been consistently below socially desired levels in most areas of the State since the 1970s due in part to the heavy toll of severe winter weather. To mitigate winter-related mortality, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (MDIFW) sought to establish protected zones for winter deer habitat (or deeryards) in areas of dense softwood forest cover and traditional deer use. MDIFW also developed an approval process to ensure timber harvests maintained zoned habitat. While there are benefits to supporting the deer population, there are also potential drawbacks to managing for winter habitat on land used primarily for timber production. This thesis assessed both the stand-level economic and landscape-level habitat implications of this wildlife policy. The first research component evaluated the economic implications of Maine’s winter deer habitat zoning policy by quantifying the cost to landowners of managing deeryards on their land. Using the Forest Vegetation Simulator, I modeled six silvicultural management scenarios and calculated the financial outcomes by wood product stumpage price. Results were dependent on site and the influence of landowner objectives on past forest management and ranged from lower harvest revenues inside deeryards because of less stand tending to higher revenues inside deeryards because of commercially favorable species composition. Adaptive implementation of novel silvicultural regimes holds opportunities for positive habitat-level outcomes with commercially viable timber management. Clearer habitat management guidelines based on standard forest inventory metrics may facilitate the harvest approval process and help foresters realize the potential of silvicultural management within deeryards. In the face of persistently low deer numbers in northern Maine, MDIFW is reevaluating its guidelines regarding maintenance of habitat features within zoned deeryards and the biological basis of zone delineation. I used maps of tree species abundance and harvest history to evaluate and compare forest characteristics within existing zoned deeryards to areas that would be delineated based on a proposed new zoning method. This analysis of northern Maine led to identification of areas that currently exhibit the desirable characteristics of white-tailed deer winter habitat and a quantitative evaluation of that habitat’s distribution. The original zoned deeryards effectively protected patches of softwood-dominated forest from intensive timber harvests. Many patches of potential wintering habitat persist across northern Maine and tend to be aggregated on the landscape. These findings provide new information to aid in revision and improvement of winter deer habitat regulations and guidelines and to mitigate their unintended side effects