Me:
>......from environmental law was "a good first step towards providing
>>a steady supply of old-growth" (paraphrase). ......
>>

Peggi:
>Perhaps they've overlooked the fact that this is the last of it. How can
>you have a steady supply of something that has nearly ceased to exist!

Never understimate the cynicism of the timber industry. That's rule #1.

I'm not speaking of the workers, of course, but of those in control.

The industry knows it has to convert to a timber supply which solely
consists of second growth. However, that takes money to convert
veneer mills and saw mills to handle second growth trees, as well
as an investment in the best of automated equipment to make efficient
use of these smaller trees (computers are much better at this than
sawyers, and the smaller the tree, the harder the problem of getting
the most lumber and the least sawdust out of each one).

So, the more old-growth they can liquidate, the longer they can delay
conversion and milk the old-growth mills (I'm using this in two
senses, ha!).

And, you can of course get bigger chunks of lumber out of old-growth,
and higher quality studs and the like. All this sells at premium
prices though it might well cost less to mill.

Additionally, there's the little problem of the fact that in the 70s
and especially the 80s that harvest of old-growth was accelerated
well above sustainable levels, even under the presumption that all
old-growth not protected when the plans were made (70s, but accelerated
under Reagan) would be converted to second growth. The industry was
facing a 10-20yr "timber gap" regardless of preservation of additional
old-growth. Each big stick they get to harvest eases that gap, each
day we can prevent them from cutting a big stick shortens the time
until a flood of second-growth comes online.

Of course, when this flood does come online, when you and I are in
wheelchairs, walkers, and nursing homes, the industry will undoubtably
beg the government to lessen the harvest rate in order to shrink supply
to raise prices and increase profit margins (re-read rule #1).

- Don Baccus, Portland OR <donb at rational.com>