Variation and trends in sawmill wood procurement in the Northeastern United States

Abstract

The sawmill industry in the Northeastern United States is represented by a wide variety of mills with highly variable roundwood requirements and diverse procurement operations. Data collected from 211 sawmills in seven states are used to characterize wood procurement, with an emphasis on quantifying variation in operations among different types of firms. In general, respondent mills procured 90 percent of their total 2005 roundwood supply from within 30 to 70 miles of the mill, but often ranged 200 miles or more to meet requirements. Of the 1.2 BBF of log procurement reported in the survey, gatewood was the most dominant log source (54%), followed by roadside sources (23%) and stumpage (16%). Fee simple lands, leases, easements and all other sources combined made up less than 8 percent of the total reported volume. A majority of mills reported declines in log quality and volume per log between 1994 and 2005. Results are discussed in the context of regional trends in industry concentration, log exportation, forest parcelization, urbanization, and exploitative harvesting practices.