Increasing Timber Production, an Emergency Situation on National Forest Lands [pdf]

https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/sm-1078-006.pdf

by gnabgib • 1 year ago

72 45 1 year ago

Seems like this might be a way to reduce reliance on Canadian timber. Canada exports 45 billion CAD (USD ~30 billion) yearly, mostly to the USA. Substituting American timber could move some of that economic activity south of the border, reducing Canada's GDP by up to 1% and moving several hundred thousand jobs.

woodruffw2• 1 year ago

We aren't really reliant on Canadian timber. The US produces more board-feet of timber than any other country in the world[1], and most of it is used domestically.

[1] https://www.eworldtrade.com/blog/top-10-wood-producing-count...

onemoresoop• 1 year ago

The fact that the US produces more is no proof US doesn’t rely on Canadian timber.

no_wizard6• 1 year ago

Is there a good reason we want to do this though? It doesn’t pay very well and the work is seasonal.

This feels like “adding any job no matter the job” is the goal, as opposed to investing in our citizenry through education, training and using subsidies to help with the transitioning to better paying employment like high tech manufacturing, pharmaceutical production, professional trades etc.

We should really be focusing on the quality of jobs added and encourage that growth, preferably with an eye on long term stability

toomuchtodo2• 1 year ago

The last admin attempted that, creating well paying union jobs in clean energy and chip manufacturing. But it takes time, TSMC took 3-4 years from breaking ground to startup in Arizona. The electorate expects results immediately, which is impossible. And so, the thrashing continues. You can’t sell long term investment in the US, there is no will, but systems take time and investment to come up to speed.

ashoeafoot• 1 year ago

The education is a hidden selector and got us here in the first place

ZYbCRq22HbJ2y7• 1 year ago

Why does the US need to do this?

Canada exports 45 billion CAD (USD ~30 billion) yearly, mostly to the USA

https://vizhub.com/curran/canadian-exports-to-us-treemap?mod...

According to this (2022) it seems lower than that?

0cf8612b2e1e• 1 year ago

Link is broken?

bpodgursky• 1 year ago

I have no pretense they did this in a calculated or intentional way, but I think it's actually probably the correct move given the lack of controlled burns nowdays.

dghlsakjg2• 1 year ago

Logging an area doesn’t necessarily decrease the fire danger. If you go to cut blocks in the PNW you’ll notice huge piles of slash in every cut block.

There are ways to log that do decrease fire risk, but generally those are not the techniques used in industrial logging since they are less profitable and tend to leave quite a few trees standing.

Here’s a good primer that lays out the basicshttps://davidsuzuki.org/expert-article/will-logging-more-in-...

0_____0• 1 year ago

Fuel reduction for wildfire mitigation, if that's what you are referring to, doesn't focus on mature trees, which are pretty important for the long term health of forests.

This doesn't so much address the health of forest ecosystems so much as remove them, which really fucks stuff up. Habitat destruction, changes to waterways and luvial fauna, soil erosion. We already do a lot of timber farming, like a lot of DT policies it's hard not to read this as a simply spiteful move.

idiotsecant2• 1 year ago

Timber harvest doesn't work as an alternative to forest fires. This is timber industry propaganda. It produces shallow ecosystems and monoculture forests. Forest fires work just fine, and we continue to have them every year whether we do controlled burns or not. Many species rely on the natural fire cycle and we shouldn't try to prevent fires through timber harvest, it just makes fires and erosion and biodiversity worse.

no_wizard6• 1 year ago

This. Don’t buy into the propaganda.

Honestly I’d love to see the world move away from timber to an easier to manage renewable resource. Whatever happened to those homes made out of 100% recycled material?

osigurdson• 1 year ago

We are going to have to create a new term for "emergency", since this one is used for all manner of situations ranging from timber production to heart attacks.

telotortium• 1 year ago

“Emergency” is the cheat code written into many laws to circumvent ordinary procedural requirements or limits. Would you like it better if they were forced to call it “exigent circumstances” instead?

SteveNuts• 1 year ago

Maybe we should enumerate the types of emergencies it applies to so there’s a limit beyond a gentleman’s agreement.

rocqua• 1 year ago

Emergency of convenience?

Or a Reichstag fire Emergency? The Reichstag fire was Hitler's pretext for declaring the national emergency that ended democracy during his reign.

Mussolini did it earlier in 1922 but the pretext was more vague. So perhaps just a Mussolini emergency?

flipbrad• 1 year ago

Fake it till you make it (a genuine emergency, that is)

greenie_beans• 1 year ago

trees are not the problem. we have so much timber inventory. you can't increase timber production without solving mill capacity and logging labor issues. we have so many fucking trees. we need more tree nimbys so tree prices will go up. timber != lumber.

sciencesama• 1 year ago

We want more timber !! Cut more wood !! Chop chop chop !!

sheeshkebab• 1 year ago

“Emergency” my ass. More like made up crap to bully Canada by orange buffoon who hates trees as much as windmills.

Mistletoe• 1 year ago

Every day a new embarrassment to read. I can’t handle it anymore.

jmward01• 1 year ago

There is a clear pattern to the madness. First make up something unsubstantiated by fact. Two declare it a crisis that requires acting without congress and circumventing existing laws. Three destroy something that will take generations to repair, if it can be repaired. Four repeat with something else so quickly that people forget the last few things destroyed.

no_wizard6• 1 year ago

Republicans already laid out as a tactic for the very reasons you state. Crazy thing is they were transparent in how they were going to act.

Project 2025 even documented how this would work

ringeryless2• 1 year ago

It's so strange how all the federal agencies all spout obvious propaganda now with this new regime and its loyalty tests. Just know that the entire rest of the world will generally not be queueing up to kiss the ring. Absolutely no human being, let alone nations full of them, enjoys being humiliated and ground into the dust as a mere opening ploy in negotiations. Humanity will route around the USA. What sane actor will make deals with a psychopath that rips up contracts it made yesterday?

ringeryless2• 1 year ago

What functions domestically will kill the host organism, and electing someone different in 4 years won't fix permanent damage done. Unfortunately, it reflects on all, and our mark is diminished in value. Thanks MAGA.

standeven• 1 year ago

This executive action blames forest management for increased wildfires, but the IPCC has predicted this exact problem for decades. Unsurprisingly, climate change is not mentioned.

I guess we’re to believe that forests are being poorly managed by every government in every country around the world?

sysrestartusr• 1 year ago

"Hey educated people with diplomas and or insanely cool CVs and or relevant jobs, you are powerless. Please invest in crypto and stock, thanks!"

Increasing Timber Production, an Emergency Situation on National Forest Lands [pdf]

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