The Fate of California's Forests - The Economics of Cut-And-Run

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http://counterpunch.com/scaramella12212009.html


In the beginning there was Union Lumber, which begat Georgia-Pacific and Boise-Cascade, which begat Louisiana-Pacific and Masonite and Jackson State Forest, and Georgia-Pacific begat Hawthorne Timber (aka the Washington State Pension Fund), which begat Usal Forest and Salmon Creek and Big River and the Redwood Forest Foundation and the Conservation Fund and the Garcia Forest.

All these begattings were first begat when the old timber families who'd selectively managed California’s huge Mendocino county forests with a view to perpetuity sold progressively cut-over timberlands to new groups of Wall Street investors who took what was left of the forests, cut up them up into new begattings with ever fewer trees and cashed in whatever was left.

There is now no logging to speak of and not a working general purpose lumber mill in all of Mendocino County. A mighty industry has been destroyed.

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The County’s dormant Forest Council (a subcommittee of the Board of Supervisors) hasn’t met for years because the biggest timberland owners are operating under what Giusti called “Option A” forest plans, a sub-variant of Sustained Yield Plans which allow the companies to keep their inventory and harvest data proprietary. There hasn’t been much for the Forest Council to discuss. Supervisor Pinches, having conceded the corporate overcut, couldn’t resist taking one last shot at the hippies, er, environmentalists, as if they were sitting at Harry Merlo's elbow while L-P destroyed Mendocino County's timber economy.

“The people who were here 15 years ago saying how we don't want to cut a tree, where are they today? Where are they helping us with… well, if the timber industry… if we don't cut a tree, it goes away, we'll replace it with other things in this county. We haven't. You know, we've replaced it with the drug business! That’s what we've replaced it with. I hope everybody's happy!”

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Everyone knew that timber companies were overcutting and would leave the woods badly damaged and depleted. The drug cartels only moved into the forests because marijuana has become the most valuable commodity the forests currently produce because dope prices are kept artificially but lucratively high by the lost War On Drugs. The hippies, finally, were only bit players in a much larger drama.
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at least the weed will keep the soil in place until the forest has time to grow up again

timber barons suck

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1. Oregon and Washington State have both lost much of their...

timber industry. Areas that had many mills in constant operation have perhaps one or two left. Lots of jobs and towns were built around logging operations.\

What bites, is that multiple very long timber trains come through daily from Canada.

Fed pays a fee to logging states that is supposed to make up the financial loss to the areas. But, the jobs went with the mills.

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2. Calif sure is getting hit - forest gone, water going fast

and a broke govt. to name a few hits