Timber: Mine or Crop?

Excerpts: Three outstanding measures are necessary to bring about the growing of timber crops on forest lands. The first is to stop unrestrained forest exploitation, the denudation which is a direct result of timber mining. Timber mining has already left 81 million acres of forest land largely barren, has made 250 million acres more only partially productive, and is adding to these areas from 5 to 10 million acres each year. With little systematic provision for the renewal of our privately owned forests, with a cut four times the present growth of wood, the remaining timber supplies have become so localized as greatly to decrease their general utility. The second step required is to reduce waste in the use of timber. Out of a cut of 22 1/2 billion cubic feet, we waste each year more than 9 billion feet. By the elimination of obvious waste in the woods, in the manufacture of lumber, and in its remanufacture and use, by the general application of technical knowledge already available, and by thorough-going research in the properties, protection, and utilization of wood, it should be possible to save at least 6 1/2 billion board feet of lumber each year and additional amounts of other material. The possible saving in lumber alone is equal to the present yearly growth on 170 million acres. The third important objective is to increase timber production to the full capacity of the land. Only by this course can we hope to grow the equivalent of our present consumption of 22 1/2 billion cubic feet. Full production will require the planting of areas now denuded which will not reforest themselves though fires are kept out. It involves careful methods of cutting areas now bearing timber and their protection from insects and diseases.

内容节选：若要实现林地用材林的规模化培育，需落实三项关键举措。其一，终止无节制的森林开发行为——即林木采伐直接引发的林地裸荒问题。当前，林木采伐已使8100万英亩林地近乎荒芜，另有2.5亿英亩林地仅能维持部分生产力，且每年仍有500万至1000万英亩的土地加入此类退化行列。由于私有林的更新抚育缺乏系统性规划，林木采伐量达到当前木材自然生长量的四倍，剩余木材资源分布极度集中，大幅削弱了其整体利用价值。其二，降低木材使用全链条的浪费。当前我国年木材采伐总量达225亿立方英尺，每年的木材浪费量超过90亿立方英尺。通过消除林地采伐、木材加工、再制造与使用环节的显性浪费，推广现有成熟的林业技术成果，并针对木材的特性、防护与利用开展全面深入的研究，每年至少可节约65亿板英尺的成材（lumber），以及其他品类木材的额外节约量。仅成材一项的潜在节约量，就相当于1.7亿英亩林地的年木材生长总量。其三，充分挖掘林地生产潜力，提升木材产能。唯有通过该路径，方能实现年木材产出与当前225亿立方英尺的消费量持平。要实现全面产能，需对那些即便规避火灾也无法自然更新的退化林地开展人工造林；同时需采用科学的采伐方式经营现有林分，并做好林木的病虫害防护工作。