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aagusgus t1_j3opfit wrote

Reply to comment by Faroutman1234 in Washington's forests recover by Murvayne1

Not so much on the loggers deciding, it was mostly the federal government. I'm not sure about the coast range, but most of that land in the "cascades" photos are US Forest Service property. They stopped logging those areas in the 80's to protect habitat, mostly for the spotted owls.

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BarnabyWoods t1_j3p3rpl wrote

Yes, the private and DNR lands are still heavily cut over.

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iamlucky13 t1_j3pqofw wrote

It's not just the federal government.

Demand has also fallen as population growth has slowed, waste has decreased, wood heating has decreased, and other materials have increased in use (concrete, steel, and composites).

Also, Canada has been making up an increasing share of North America's timber supply.

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aagusgus t1_j3pu0kj wrote

You been around the local lumber mills recently? They're absolutely gorged with timber. Production has really picked back up the past few years.

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iamlucky13 t1_j3pyv9j wrote

The mills that are still operating, you mean. I don't doubt they've seen business pick up, but the mill capacity doesn't even exist to match what was being harvested before the turn of the 21st century.

For most of the post-war era, Washington timber harvests ranged form 5-7 billion board feet per year. The record year was 1973, with 7.8 million board feet.

The federal actions in the late 80's pushed it to mostly below 5 billion board feet. By 2000, the 5-year average was 4.2 billion board feet per year. The overall average going back to 1900 was 4.9 billion board feet per year.

The latest year state data are compiled for is 2017, at which point, the total was 2.8 billion board feet - just over 1/3 of the historic maximum, and a modest bit over 1/2 the previous century's average.

https://www.dnr.wa.gov/TimberHarvestReports

The timber industry has estimates out up through 2021, which also came in at 2.8 billion board feet:

https://data.workingforests.org/doc/WFPA_Industry_Econ_Impacts_2021_b.pdf

Washington is genuinely harvesting far less timber than it has historically, and the trend in Oregon has been similar.

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Zero98205 t1_j3q43gc wrote

I used to vacation on the peninsula and remember being in high school when that decision came down. Forks was fit to openly rebel. I guess they have Twilight now though, so... fair's fair? 😉

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