Being selected to write the first Wood Futures feature, to be “the first one down the hill” in ski-racing parlance, should be a great honour. If that is true, I thank the TTJ. On the other hand, somebody has to be first. I just hope readers will not be too startled that this initial essay originates in the Far West of the “lower 48 states” and in the north-west corner of the state of Oregon. We have more trees in Oregon than most countries in Europe, and we have a great forestry heritage. It’s from this vantage point that I suggest a few key topics of interest to TTJ readers far and wide.
Last summer, my wife (who is from Holland and gets a little nervous on twisty mountain roads) and I took a drive to the summit of Larch Mountain in the Mount Hood National Forest. Here, from a sturdy lookout platform, visitors are treated to the magnificent panoramic view of five glaciated snow-capped peaks protruding from a blanket of evergreen forests stretching over hundreds of square miles in Oregon and Washington. Aside from the natural beauty, what we enjoyed was a bird’s-eye view of the endless American controversy: should public forests be left untouched and protected as wilderness for present and future generations to enjoy and to provide water, wildlife and recreation? Or should they be managed for harvests of commercial timber?
This is one of the over-arching dilemmas facing foresters, lumbermen, recreationists and government. As we were taught in forestry school, to settle a controversy in cutting timber or leaving the trees standing, the question is: where to draw the line? It will be a busy decade for this topic, with legislators at all levels poised to step up the voltage.
Technology to the rescue. With choice large-diameter logs from public forests in short supply, plywood producers can opt for the Nordic route and install more peeling lines capable of rolling out veneer down to near tennis-racquet-handle diameters. This translates into greater use of timber from farmers or small forest owners who can provide a peeler log from their woodlots. We had such a wood shortage in my area recently that owners of pellet stoves (who had switched from gas heat) went begging for supplies.
Housing is the backbone of the wood world in North America, but the vertebrae are creaking of late. Western Canada and the US South have been on a tear in recent years, grinding out the OSB and dimension lumber as fast as the builders can nail it up. Huge mills have been springing up like fireweed to feed the need. But as this is being written, housing is spiralling downward. Home prices have dropped; mortgagees have reneged on new homes ‘bought’ with scanty down payment. Result: downtime and shutdowns at many mills. I don’t have the numbers, but surely exporters of building materials in South America and elsewhere must be feeling the pinch too. But housing is a cyclical business. In time, demand will catch up with supply and everything will be rosy again.
The wood world is wide and innovative. LVL is the new star and a superb alternative for solid wood and glulam beams, perfect for joists for light construction. MDF continues to set the pace for innovative value-added uses. Laminate flooring has hit the discount circuit with a vengeance on its way to grab greater market share. Other value-added products encompassing advanced laminates will find new markets.
Green housing front and centre: it’s a hot, ongoing sector attracting affluent buyers. Today’s emphasis is on saving energy, heating costs, air quality and reducing taxes, and buyers are willing to pay more to “join the green”. This wave of the future is still in the ripple stage. Oregon, incidentally, has been recognised as a leader in the environmentally-friendly housing sweepstakes.
Sales and distribution of building materials, including bigger selection and lower costs, will continue, to the advantage of big-box stores, whose buying/importing power continues to recast traditional supply channels – from basic framing and laminate flooring to whole interiors.
Restructuring within the mill-owning companies and timberland owners will continue. Famous old names will adorn the history books as ambitious investors rewrite the whole timber scene.
