Global economic and land use consequences of North American timberland withdrawals

Abstract

This study provides an economic and land-use assessment of near-term timber supply changes using a global forest sector model. Timber supply changes are based on current and likely reductions in timber supply from the Pacific Northwest public sector and British Columbia. The global effects from the withdrawal of timberland suggest that tradeoffs between foregone timber production exists. A larger land area may be harvested in other regions to compensate for the reduced timber production in the PNW and BC regions. This result has implications for the global forest sector. The shift in timber production to other regions implies the use of less productive timberlands to replace timber output from the PNW and BC regions. Greater harvest coming from other regions indicates that perhaps greater environmental degradation will occur in these regions, particularly if forest management techniques practiced in the substitute regions do not consider other environmental factors in their implementation. Further research is needed to extend our understanding of the economic and environmental implications of a redistribution of timber production. -from Author