CHAPTER IV Wood Use In The United States

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CHAPTER IVWood Use in the United States

ContentsPage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73History of Wood Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76uses of wood. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Wood for Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Prospects for Further Growth in Wood Fuel Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Wood in Construction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Pulp and Paper Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Other Wood Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Advanced Wood Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .78787981838586Projected U.S. Consumption ofTimber and Wood Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Demand Projections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Supply Projections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Timber Consumption Projections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .The Forest Products Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Contribution to the Domestic Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Structure and Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Regional Distribution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .88899191Summary .94959799List of TablesTable No.10. Representative Uses for Wood. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11. Taxonomy of Major Forest Products. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12. OTA Calculations of Wood Fuel Removals, 1980 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13. Domestic Consumption of Lumber and Panel Products, 1976 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14. U.S. Production of Paper and Paperboard in 1981 and Projected for 1984 . . . .15. Production and Value of Silvichemicals in the United States in 1977. . . . . . . . .16. Number of Employees, Value Added, and Value of Shipments for Primaryand Secondary Forest Products Industry in 1977 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page76777982858796List of FiguresFigure No.Page10. Relative Importance of Industrial Raw Materials, 1920-77 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7311. Domestic Timber Consumption, 1952-2030 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9212. Softwood Timber Production: Regional Distribution, 1976 and 2030 .*,. . . 9213. Hardwood Timber Production: Regional Distribution, 1976 and 2030 . . . . . . . . 9314. Softwood Timber Production: Distribution by Ownership, 1976 and 2030. . . 9415. Schematic of the Forest Products Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9516. U.S. Lumber Production by Region, 1952-76 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10017. Softwood Plywood Production by Region, 1952-76 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10118. Regional Wood Fuel Consumption in 1981 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

CHAPTER IVWood Use in the United StatesSummaryAmericans currently consume about onefourth of the world’s forest products and havethe highest per capita consumption in theworld. At the same time, the United States isthe world’s largest producer of wood products,accounting for about 35 percent of total globaloutput of paper, 45 percent of all plywood, and20 percent of softwood lumber. 1While the contribution of wood to the domestic economy has been declining over the past50 years (fig, 10), it continues to be valuable inconstruction, shipping, packaging, and communications. Wood’s future role in the nationalmaterials mix is difficult to forecast, but woodshould continue to be an important raw material in the foreseeable future. Whether its contribution to the economy expands or decreaseswill depend on several factors: the relative availability and price of woodcompared to alternative materials,technological advances affecting uses forwood and other materials,the business acumen of the forest productsindustry compared to its competitors,government policies that encourage or inhibit use of wood relative to other materials, andconsumer preferences.Wood is made into thousands of products,but a few uses dominate today’s market, Onceagain, after a period of decline, energy is thehighest volume use for wood in the UnitedStates. Over half of the wood removed from forests in the early 1980’s ultimately was burnedfor energy. Much of this consisted of pulpmillwastes, but a growing percentage was fuelwood used for residential heat and commer1 Roger Sed jo and Samuel Radcliffe, t% tm’ar ‘1’rerI cfs I’n L’, S,Produf;t.s Trade. Resources for the Future Research f]apcrR-22 (Washin@on, DC,: Kew}urces for the Future 1 )80), p. 5F15,ForestFigure 10— Relative Importance of IndustrialRaw Materials, 1920-77100rAgricultural nonfood, and wildlife productsa1920196019401980Yearalncludes cotton and other fibers, oils, rubber, furs, hides, andproductsblnciudes miner construction materials, metal ores, chemical andother Slmllarfertilizer rna-terlals, abrasives, and other mineralsSOURCE U S Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, An Ana/ys/s of the TIrnbar S/tuat/on In the United States, 1952.2030 (Washington, D C U S.Government Printing Off Ice, 19f32), p 3cial power, * The forest products industry,which uses waste wood and residues for fuel,accounts for about 65 percent of wood energyuse, while the remaining 35 percent is burnedfor home heating. Future levels of fuelwood useare difficult to predict; however, continued butprobably slower growth in residential andcommercial use of wood energy is likely inthe Eastern United States for at least the nextdecade.Over half of the solid wood products consumed, including lumber and plywood and*Wood consumption for other forest products decreased ineconomic recession while fuelw’ood consum pt ion cent i nued at a high rate,1981 because of the73

74 Wood Use: U.S. Competitiveness and Technologyother panels, are used in construction, mostlysingle-family housing. After World War II, atrend toward building large detached homesdeveloped and increased the demand for wood,even though construction methods becamemore efficient. In the future, growth in housing and related demand for wood may slow dueto the higher cost of homeownership, shrinking household size, and possibly an increasingproportion of multifamily dwellings.Demand for pulp and paper products hasgrown dramatically in recent decades, andprospects are good for continued growth, However, paper products face increasing competition from other materials, particularly plastics.Electronic communications may alter paperconsumption patterns in the future, but themagnitude and direction of possible shifts areuncertain. The immediate effect of computers,word processors, and office copying equipment has been to increase demand for sometypes of paper.Forest products have a variety of uses inmanufacturing, shipping, and heavy industry.With the exception of pallets, demand formajor industrial products made from woodhave either leveled off or declined as usage haschanged or as other materials have replacedwood. Nevertheless, wood will continue to bevaluable for a wide range of minor industrialand specialized applications.Chemicals and cellulosic fibers are also produced from wood. The 1.5 billion cellulosicfiber industry, which makes rayon and acetate,uses refined wood cellulose as a basic rawmaterial. over 500 million in other silvichemicals are also produced from wood each year.These silvichemicals include lignin byproducts, food additives and flavorings, and navalstores. Wood also can be used to make manyproducts now made with petrochemicals. Production of chemicals as byproducts of woodmanufacturing probably will continue, butwidespread replacement of chemicals nowmade from petroleum is unlikely. However, intensified research on wood chemicals, particularly lignin, could lead to new products ofconsiderable value.Although the United States is the world’slargest producer and consumer of wood products, with demand increasing since 1950,wood’s importance to the domestic economyhas declined. The value of timber products asa proportion of the value of all industrial rawmaterials has been dropping for more than 5 0years, from about 40 percent of the total in 1920to about 27 percent in 1977. In part, this isbecause some traditional uses for wood havedecreased in importance and because nonrenewable products, such as plastics and metals,are competing successfully in forest productsmarkets. The rising value of nonrenewable rawmaterials may be other factors accounting forthe decline. An expanding role for wood inthe economy is possible if the price and availability of nonrenewable materials becomeless competitive. Otherwise, industrial usesfor wood are not likely to expand significantly.Wood’s future also may depend on the development of new wood products to competewith nonwood products as well as the development of composites that combine wood andnonwood materials. For example, new woodbuilding materials are available which couldexpand current wood markets or open othersin the coming years. New super-strength paperand paperboard products, currently in developmental stages, also could have some structural applications. Composite materials madeof wood in combination with fiberglass, plastics, or metal have demonstrated superior performance for some applications, but currently are not widespread in use.In 1980, the Forest Service issued projectionsof future timber demand, supply, and consumption as part of an assessment process required by the Forest and Rangeland RenewableResources Planning Act of 1974. These projections, which are the basis for many Forest Service timber management programs, show rapidly rising timber consumption in the next 5 0years, accompanied by rising timber prices anddeclining softwood timber inventories after2010 0

Ch. IV— Wood Use in the United StatesAccording to the projections, timber consumption from domestic forests will rise fromover 12 billion cubic feet (ft 3) in 1976 to nearly23 billion ft 3 in 2030. Consumption of hardwoods is expected to rise somewhat faster thanconsumption of softwoods, Hardwood consumption, which accounted for less than onethird of the 1976 timber harvest, is expectedto reach nearly 40 percent by 2030.Another change shown in the projections isa substantial shift of harvest from the PacificNorthwest to the South, The South’s share ofthe softwood harvest is projected to increasefrom 45 percent in 1976 to 53 percent in 2030,and its share of the hardwood harvest from 51to 59 percent during the same period, Recentdata, however, shows larger inventories andfaster growth in the Pacific Northwest than theolder data indicate, a difference that probablywill dampen the regional shift.The 1980 projections may overstate futuretimber consumption and price rises duemainly to possible overestimates of demandand underestimates of timber growth. T h elarge projected increase in timber demand inthe future stems primarily from assumptionsabout economic activity, housing starts, andhome characteristics that many analysts thinkare too optimistic, Future timber supply estimates are based on static forest managementand short-term supply assumptions that probably understate future growth potential. However, because projections of southern softwoodinventories are being revised downward toconform with more recent survey information,the future supply picture is somewhat uncertain. underestimates of future supply also maybe offset somewhat by possible overestimatesof commercial timber acreage.The forest products industry employs almost2 percent of the Nations’s full-time work force 75and contributes almost 2 percent of the grossnational product (GNP). The industry containstwo major sectors: 1) pulp and paper, and2) lumber and panels (solid wood), The lumberand panels sector employs more people thandoes the pulp and paper sector, but pulp andpaper contributes a higher value added.Historically, primary processing operations,including logging, lumber and panel manufacture, pulping, and papermaking have been concentrated where inventories of raw materialsare greatest, mostly near the abundant softwood forests of the Pacific coast and the South.Secondary processing (the manufacture ofgoods such as boxes, cartons, paper products,trusses, and furniture) tends to be locatedcloser to markets, mainly in the Eastern UnitedStates.The financial performance of the forest products industry has been roughly equal to that ofother industries over the long term. However,in periods of recession, the lumber and panelproducts sector has been particularly vulnerable because of its heavy dependence on highlycyclical homebuilding activity.The forest products industry is fairly competitive, but there are several leading companies. In 1978, the top four firms accountedfor nearly 15 percent of sales. One of the majorfactors that appears to correlate with industrydominance is landownership. The top 40 firmsin sales own 80 percent of all forest industryland, which totals 68.8 million acres or about14 percent of all U.S. commercial forestland.Another factor associated with industry leadership is diversification. The largest firms oftenproduce both paper and solid wood products,while smaller firms are more likely to specialize. Neither landownership nor diversification,however, is necessarily a determinant of industry dominance.

76 Wood Use: U.S. Competitiveness and TechnologyHistory of Wood Use*Wood is probably the most versatile of all materials, adaptable to a broad range of uses andfunctions (table 10). For millenia, wood in itsmost rudimentary forms—firewood and logsprovided humanity with fuel, water transportation, shelter, and food. Ancient peoples inZInformation on the history of wood use can be found in RobertL. Youngs, “Every Age, the Age of Wood,” InterdisciplinaryScience Reviews, vol. 7, No. 3, 1982, pp. 211-219; and in ElgonGlesinger, e Coming Age of Wood (New York: Simon &Schuster, 1949).Table 10.—Representative Uses for WoodUses/ExamplesConstruction:Residential housing construction and upkeep, mobilehomes, and light commercial structures; arches andbeams for sports arenas, convention centers, etc.Communications:Newsprint, printing papers, and other paper productsPackaging:Bags, sacks, containersFurniture manufacturing:Household and commercial furnitureShipping:Pallets, containers, dunnage, blocking, and bracingTransportation:Railroad ties, manufacture of railroad cars, boats, andlight airframesWood fuel:Fuelwood, woodchips, mill residues, etc.:Residential home heating and cooking, forestproducts industry process energy, electricitygenerationLiquid and gaseous fuels:Potential supplement for petroleum and natural gasas a fuel or alternative petrochemical feedstockChemicals and cellulosic fibers:Rayon and cellulose acetate:Clothing fibers, tires, conveyor and transmissionbelts, ribbons, films, etc.Silvichemicals (naval stores and pulping byproducts):Used in production of synthetic rubber, chewinggum, rosin bags, inks, adhesives, paints, soaps,detergents, solvents, odorants, bactericide, drillingmud thinners, dispersants, leather tanning agents,water treatment, pharmaceuticals, etc.Food and feed products:Feed molasses, animal fodder, vanillin flavoring, foodgrade yeast productsMiscellaneous and specialty products:Utility poles, pilings, fencing, mine props, cooperage,activated carbon, sporting goods, musical instruments,pencils, caskets, signs and displays, etc.SOURCE: Off Ice of Technology Assessment.vented ways to extract natural chemicals fromit, such as resins, oils, and medicines. Thebasics of producing paper were known to theChinese by the first century A. D., and similarprocesses, developed separately, apparentlywere known to the Mayas and Incas, In the19th century, papermaking machines becamecommon in Europe and the United States, enabling high-volume production. Wood’s abundance or scarcity among nations has been acontributing impetus to warfare for hundredsof years. For example, colonial resentment ofBritain’s earmarking of “crown timbers” forshipbuilding is said to have exacerbated tensions leading to the American Revolution. 3Other instances have occurred as recently asWorld War 11,4The extensive forests of colonial Americawere considered to be an obstacle to agriculture and settlement. Nonetheless, the superabundance, low cost, and workability of woodpermitted its easy substitution for more suitable, durable, and as-yet unavailable butscarcer materials for shelter, transportation,and tools. The U.S. industrial revolution depended on wood for fuel and tools until fossilfuels, iron and steel replaced it.Wood was the most important source of energy in the United States a century ago, providing an estimated two-thirds of industrial andresidential fuel needs. When the advantages offossil fuels to an increasingly urbanized andindustrialized society became obvious, woodfuel use began to decline, both in proportionto total energy use and in absolute quantities.It recently has increased again as a way to beatrising energy prices.Wood served an important but temporaryfunction in the development of the early U.S.——SAS discussed in Robert F, Albion, Forests and Sea Power: TheTimber Problem of the Royal Navy (Cambridge, Mass.: HarvardUniversity Press, 1926), pp. 231-280.4The role of wood in World War 11 is discussed in Elgon Glesinger, Nazis in the Woodpile: Hitler Plot for Essential RawMaterial (Indianapolis and New York: Bobbs-Merrill, 1942).

Ch. IV— Wood Use in the United Statesnetwork of roads, bridges, and railroads. s Insome areas, wooden roads were formed by laying logs in a corduroy pattern; planks or woodblocks also served as road pavement. Thetracks, not just the ties, of early railroads werebuilt of wood. In 1910, at the high point ofrailroad expansion, an estimated one-fourth ofall wood consumed in the United States wasfor railroad ties, 6‘See Don H. Berkebile, “Wooden Roads, ” Lee H. Nelson, “TheColossus of Philadelphia, ” and John H. Nelson, “Railroads: Woodto Burn, ” In Alaterial Culture of the It’ooden Age, Brrmke Hindle(cd.) (Tarrjrtown, N.}’.: Sleep} Hollow Press, 1981), for a discussion of wood role in earlj’ U.S. transportation.‘Glesinger, The Corning Age of Wood, op. cit. 77Advances in technology over the past 100years have resulted in many new wood products (table 11), a variety of reconstituted structural wood products, and composite productsthat join wood with other materials to improveits strength. Many of these products have comparable or superior performance to lumber, yetallow fuller recovery of the resource, Much ofthe paper and paperboard now produced inthis country is made from southern pine species, which were considered unsuitable forpapermaking before adaptation of the kraftsulfate process in the 1930’s. Now, hardwoodsare used increasingly throughout the industryas technology expands to take advantage ofthese cheap and abundant materials.Table 11 .—Taxonomy of Major Forest ProductsProductDescriptionLumber type products1“ thick, 4“ to 16’, 1“ wideBoards aDimension a lumber 2“ to 5“ thick, 2“ wide, usually 4’ to 16’long solid wood, sometimes edge gluedTimbers5 ‘ thick, 4“ wide, various lengths;solid or laminated woodParallel laminatedUsually same dime

CHAPTER IV Wood Use in the United States Summary Americans currently consume about one-fourth of the world’s forest products and have the highest per capita consumption in the world. At the same time, the United States is the world’s largest producer of

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