Demands on forests changing
10/15/08 | 6 comments

Demands on forests changing


Heightened call for fuel wood, pellets a worry for foresters
By Abigail Curtis
BDN Staff
BANGOR DAILY NEWS PHOTO BY BRIDGET BROWN
The east peak of Borestone Mountain is outlined in the foliage of its shadow near Lake Onawa recently in Elliotsville Township. Buy Photo

ORONO, Maine — As more wood is used for fuel, the demands on Maine’s forests are changing quickly — and that might affect the long-term viability of Maine’s iconic industry, said attendees Tuesday at a conference at the University of Maine.

“More people don’t want to buy oil but would like to buy wood, or wood pellets,” said Tony Filauro of the Maine Division of the New England Society of American Foresters. “That means less wood for paper and less for lumber. It’s an increasing demand for a finite resource.”

Filauro was one of about 180 foresters who talked about the issues affecting the forests and possible solutions at the Society of American Foresters gathering, where plaid shirts and work boots were practically the dress code.

Maine has about 17 million forested acres in production right now, and ownership of those acres has changed dramatically over the last decade. Paper companies used to own most of the productive acres. Now companies such as Plum Creek own the land and sell wood to paper companies and others.

“There is an imbalance right now,” said John Williams, president of the Maine Pulp and Paper Association. “We have to be careful to continue to harvest wood sustainably.”

The exploding demand for fuel isn’t helping, officials said.

“Pellets are new. It’s a wild card,” said Dave Struble of the Maine Forest Service. “The other wild card in this is firewood.”

The price of firewood has gone up almost $100 a cord in the last couple of years, officials said.

Although Struble said that more wood is growing in the forests than is being harvested, the increased demand for wood pellets and biomass chips is exacerbated by the fact that loggers are having trouble getting to the trees.

Reasons for the harvesting difficulties range from the meteorological — such as last winter’s record snows — to the political, Williams said. The industry depends on a work force of about 700 Canadian foresters, especially in very productive forested areas in the northwestern part of the state. Some of those foresters have been caught up in a new federal immigration policy and can’t get their work visas.

Another problem is that there are fewer loggers nowadays, he said.

Williams also said that people in the industry are concerned that when trees get turned into fuels such as wood pellets and biomass chips, not much value is added to the raw material.

It’s a different story with paper and lumber, the more traditional end products of Maine’s forested land. Williams said pulp and paper might be worth about $1,000 a ton, while pellets can be sold for only around $300 a ton.

This is a worry to foresters, who don’t want high-value-added products to be replaced by a large demand for lower value-added ones.

“It’s fascinating to learn what people are paying and how they’re competing for the same product,” said Laura Audibert, a consulting forester in Fort Kent. “I’m more concerned about what that means for practicing forestry. You can burn anything. But you can’t make kitchen chairs or tables out of just anything."

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Comments
6 comments on this item
On 10/15/08 at 1:15 AM, Johninphilippines wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Now. See what I mean? In some of my postings concerning conservation of the Maine woods, some greedy people somewhere out-of-state and in-state (Maine) are wanting to put up developments and casinos. With respect of this, it is good for business, and high-profits, however, look at what happens to the homeowners whose fuel bills reaching sky-high pricing, along with gasoline for their vehicles. Food, other commodities, clothing, beverages...everything comes with taxes. Everything comes with higher prices. Work slowdowns. Layoffs. Company closures. Banking and economic problems affecting Maine people. People experiencing employment slowdowns this shopping season. You name it...Maine is getting broadsided with it. Now, Maine's folks are getting interested in utilizing wood-burning appliances to heat their homes this winter...and beyond. Maine's "wood crunch" is apparent, as in this article written by Abigail Curtis. High use of wood is absolutely necessary. Then...here comes Plum Creek's development. More Maine woods gone, right in the heart of one of the best woodland areas Maine has. Future expansions which are most likely to happen, disintegrating Maine's natural environment, forests, right before our eyes. Here comes the shiny-ringed, razor-cut boys from Nevada...or someplace...all ready to put the casino in down in Oxford. More woods gone. With developments such as this...and possibly attracting more in the future...guess what the wood and wood products will cost Maine later on, as some products to heat your homes are shipped in from out-of-state. Now, can everyone be aware of how precious Maine woods are?

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On 10/15/08 at 6:44 AM, normth wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Time out. The bulk of the lumber in northwestern Maine which those 700 Canadian workers are harvesting is haulded into CANADA for higher value processing. And we (the State of Maine) are dumb enough to give them a tax break (Tree Growth Program) for ripping us off. Better off sealing the border and make pellets. At least that way we don't have to subsidize both the Canadians and the Arabs.

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On 10/15/08 at 7:05 AM, garysavard wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

If the paper companies have a problem, they have only themselves to blame. They sold their woodlands for a quick profit booster. As far as pellets Vs. lumber or furniture, that's not going t o happen because pellets are made with pulp grade wood, not higher end timber. For years, paper mills dictated prices for pulp with very little competition, forcing the market downward, and now they are crying over some competition. The paper industry in Maine is retracting every year. The pellet market is a good thing as far as I'm concerned.

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On 10/15/08 at 7:26 AM, Mainecommenter wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Johninphilippines: Reliably anti-Plum Creek as usual! Perhaps the 400,000 of permanently conserved land will assuage your fears? Since there is nothing that can be done about wealthy non-Mainers (ahem) now coming into Maine, buying their kingdom lot of 40 acres and doing nothing with it, I'm sure we can agree that conservation easements can be a solution to the problem?

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On 10/15/08 at 9:41 AM, mrclam wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

When you say that paper sells for $1000 a ton, I wonder how many tons of raw wood did it take to make the ton of paper. It surely isn't one ton of wood equals one tone of paper. this information is MISinformation. What's more important? Being able to afford to heat your home or protecting big business? I do believe the Maine Oil Dealers Association sponsored this seminar and supplied the story-line, coffee, doughnuts, and called in the Bangor Bubble Head News to accept this slanted opinion at face value. What a bunch of crap.

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On 10/15/08 at 6:17 PM, Johninphilippines wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

"Mainecommenter", yes, agreed. Conservation programs are an understatement, and they need to be imposed moreso. What my point was, is that with the high cost of living, and the low cost of income, and the high cost of taxes, and the situation Maine's folks are facing right now, you all do not need to scratch out more woodland areas for developments. Those "conservation areas" just may end up somewhere within the "fine contracted printing on the last paragraph of the last page" and become acquisitions by the developers themselves in defaults against the State of Maine, or if there are time value runouts. I do not know about what contractural agreements Plum Creek has made, or what deals anyone has made with the State of Maine, if any, but I can assure you, don't hold your breath if you feel Maine's environmental woodlands will not be in dangers in the future.

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