A slowdown in log exports to Asia, the end of a trade deal between the United States and Canada, and a busy fire season all contributed to a roughly 8 percent decline in Oregon’s timber harvest last year.
Loggers cut 3.79 billion board feet of timber last year from public and private forests, according to data released Monday by the Oregon Department of Forestry. Harvests in 2013 and 2014 were more than 4 billion board feet each.
Wet, warm weather during the winter also made logging and hauling difficult, adding to the 2015 drop in harvest, according to the Department of Forestry’s annual timber harvest report. Oregon had a steady increase in annual timber harvest from 2009 to 2013. The harvest amounts declined in 2014 and last year.
Public and private forests in Lane County yielded more than 552 million board feet in 2015, making it the second-largest timber-producing county in Western Oregon. Douglas County was the largest timber-producing county, with a 2015 harvest of nearly 560 million board feet.
A 1,800-square-foot home uses about 10,000 board feet of wood, so the state’s harvest last year provided enough wood for 379,000 such houses. Forests cover nearly half of Oregon, more than 30 million acres. Federal agencies, mainly the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, oversee 60 percent of Oregon forests. Other forest owners include private individuals and companies, the state and Native American tribes.
From The Register-Guard: https://registerguard.com/rg/news/local/34611523-75/oregons-timber-harvest-dropped-in-2015.html.csp