Remarks by Timberlands External and Regulatory Affairs Vice President John McMahon
To: The First Global Conference on Paper and the Environment
Brussels, Belgium
June 7, 1993
It is an honor for me to be able to participate in the First Global Conference on Paper
and the Environment. Before beginning the discussion of industrial forestry, I would like
to provide a brief background on Weyerhaeuser Company.
Weyerhaeuser Company is one of the leading forest products companies in the United
States and Canada, with 39,000 employees and annual sales of $9.3 billion. We are the
world's largest producer of softwood lumber, and one of the largest North American
exporters of pulp and paper products. Our 14 primary pulp and paper facilities in the U.
S. and Canada represent 6.3 million tons of annual capacity. We handle over 1.8 million
tons per year of recycled fiber, which makes us the 5th largest recycler in the United
States.
Since our founding in Tacoma, Washington in 1900, the timberland resource that supports
our operations has grown to 2.3 million hectares of privately owned timberland in the
United States, plus 6.6 million hectares managed under long term license in three
provinces in western Canada. These lands can accurately be described as industrial
forests, since they are all managed to provide a sustainable flow of commercial timber to
a wide range of manufacturing facilities and industrial customers.
To understand the role of industrial forests in world forest products trade, it is
helpful to begin with an understanding of expected demand for wood and wood fiber.
Population growth, and the desire for an improved standard of living in both developed and
developing countries, is driving a steadily increasing demand for both wood and paper
products. World population is forecast to increase from 5.3 billion people today to 10
billion people by the middle of the next century, an annual growth rate of 1.6 percent per
year. However, demand for industrial roundwood for paper and forest products is growing at
approximately 2 percent per year, and will reach 2 billion cubic meters per year by the
end of this decade, according to a recent report by the U.N. Food and Agricultural
Organization (FAO, 1991).
Historically, most of the wood that society requires has come from natural forests, but
it is now becoming apparent that we cannot rely on continued access to undeveloped natural
forests to meet future industrial wood requirements. The remaining undeveloped natural
forests, while extensive in total, are being rapidly depleted in some countries,
particularly in the tropics. The rate of tropical deforestation, due principally to
urbanization and clearing for agriculture, was estimated at 16.9 million hectares per year
at the time of the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janiero (FAO, 1992).
Much of the world's remaining natural forest is the subject of relentless attention by
international environmental groups, by concerned citizens and consumers, and by government
policy makers. This concern is focused on the role that these forests play in maintaining
global climate and biological diversity, their importance as the last remaining habitats
for many threatened or endangered species, and the fact that they provide the opportunity
for an increasingly urban population to experience the undisturbed natural forest
environment before it is forever modified by development.
Within the next ten to twenty years most of the developed countries, and many of the
developing nations, will make long term decisions about the amount of their remaining
natural forests that will be reserved from development, or managed primarily to achieve
resource objectives other than commercial timber production. An example from the Pacific
Northwest in the United States illustrates this trend. Less than 20 percent of the land on
nineteen publicly owned National Forests in Washington and Oregon are considered suitable
and available for timber production, yet this percentage is likely to be further reduced
in the near future in order to reserve more habitat for threatened and endangered species,
and because the majority of the public wants to protect more of the remaining old growth
timber on federal lands from harvest.
Consequently, we can expect that an increasing percentage the wood required for lumber,
structural panels, and pulp and paper products will come from industrial forests, and
other private and public forests, that are recognized by society as being managed for
commercial timber production, thereby reducing the need to continue developing additional
natural forest area for that purpose.
Fortunately, in many parts of the world we now have over fifty years of experience in
demonstrating what industrial forests can produce under intensive forest management.
Intensively managed forests are providing wood for our industry in locations as diverse as
the United States, Canada, Europe, Sweden, Finland, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, and
Chile.
To illustrate the potential for intensive forest management, I will describe our own
company's experience. One of the major milestones in industrial forestry in the United
States occurred on June 12, 1941, when we dedicated our Clemons Tree Farm in Washington
state to long-term sustained yield management. This event was made possible by
establishing a reliable forest fire protection system, and by initiating early research on
forest regeneration methods. Prior to that time, private forest land that had been
harvested was commonly converted to agricultural uses, or left idle to regenerate
naturally.
Since 1941, the industry-sponsored Tree Farm system in the United States has grown to
over 38.5 million hectares, owned and managed by more than 35 companies and over 70
thousand nonindustrial private landowners. Industrial forests now represent 15 percent of
the commercial forest lands in the United States, and lead all other ownership categories
in annual per hectare growth and productivity.
As mentioned earlier, since 1941 Weyerhaeuser Company's private forests in the United
States have increased to 2.3 million hectares, with an additional 6.6 million hectares in
British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan managed under long term licenses with those
three Canadian provinces.
All of these lands are managed using combinations of proven intensive forestry
practices. In all cases, rapid regeneration following harvest is assured, normally by
planting genetically improved seedlings within one year. The seedlings that we plant are
produced in one of our eight western or southern nurseries. Our nursery system provides us
with the ability to produce many different tree species adapted to our own lands, as well
as seedlings for sale to other forest landowners.
Competing vegetation is controlled where necessary through careful application of
selective herbicides. Many stands are precommercially thinned by age twelve to maintain
optimum spacing for vigorous growth.
Intermediate-aged stands on favorable terrain are scheduled for commercial thinning. In
our southern loblolly pine forests, commercial thinning to produce pulping fiber and
improve spacing normally takes place by age 15, followed by a second thinning by age 25.
Douglas fir stands in the Northwest can be thinned to produce small sawlogs as early as
age 30.
Fertilization is an important silvicultural treatment on lands where our soil surveys
show nutrient deficiencies. Nitrogen, applied in the form of urea, and phosphorous are the
most common elements required to enhance growth on our U. S. forest lands, and may be
applied up to three or four times during one rotation.
Long term growth and yield is further enhanced by our extensive research and
operational experience in genetic tree improvement. Essentially all of the trees that we
plant come from seed produced in our own seed orchards, and represent one generation of
tree improvement. An increasing percentage of our southern seedlings are grown from seed
produced in second generation seed orchards.
To provide perspective on the scale at which these silvicultural practices are applied,
in 1992 alone, we planted over 40 thousand hectares with 44 million seedlings,
precommercially thinned over 17 thousand hectares, and applied nutrients to almost 68
thousand hectares of both planted and natural stands. Over 1.3 million hectares of our
forests in the U. S. are planted stands that have received combinations of these
treatments.
An example from the Douglas fir region, in the Pacific Northwest, illustrates the
leverage that this series of silvilcultural treatments can have on per-hectare growth and
yield. In our experience in the Douglas fir region, planting alone increases productivity
by 90 percent over an unmanaged, naturally regenerated stand. First generation tree
improvement adds at least 10 percent, and thinning and fertilization approximately 70
percent. The combined effect of this series of silvicultural treatments, over a
forty-to-fifty year rotation, is a 180 percent increase in the growth and yield that could
be expected from an unmanaged stand. On high-site Douglas fir timberland, this represents
an additional 525 cubic meters of wood per hectare at time of harvest.
The silvicultural practices illustrated in this example are not unique to Weyerhaeuser
Company, nor are they unique to the United States. Similar proven practices are being
implemented on industrial forests in other countries, on many nonindustrial private lands,
and on many public forests as well. Recent data indicates that there are now approximately
128 million hectares of planted forests being managed in at least 24 countries (Brooks,
1993).
The growth rates achieved using intensive silvicultural practices are consistently
greater than what is attainable under unmanaged conditions, and are particularly
impressive in the southern hemisphere, where Brazil, Chile, and New Zealand set the pace
for the rest of the world in mean annual increment achieved in planted forests.
There is little doubt that the intensive silviculture that I have described can
significantly increase per hectare growth and yield during the first rotation. There are
legitimate scientific questions about whether growth rates of this magnitude can be
sustained over multiple rotations. Research to date in temperate region forests indicates
that these growth and yield levels can be sustained, provided that soil nutrient balance
and organic matter are maintained. However, continuing research and monitoring will be
necessary over a long period of time to verify the actual growth that can be achieved in
subsequent rotations.
While we have demonstrated that intensively managed forests are successful in growing
wood, we have not yet convinced the public that industrial forests are sustainable, or
that they are being managed to provide adequate protection for the other resources that
people expect from forests. Questions are being raised about whether intensively managed
forests can maintain long-term forest health, provide favorable wildlife habitat, and
maintain water quality and stream habitats needed to protect the fisheries resource. Some
customers are beginning to ask for assurances that the wood and paper products they
require are, in fact, being produced from sustainable forests.
Recent reports and governmental policy actions have highlighted public expectations for
sustainable development, and the importance of sustainable forests to the health of
ecosystems, social well-being, and economic development. Perhaps best known is the
Bruntland Commission report (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987) but,
more recently, the Forestry Principles adopted at the 1992 UNCED Conference in Rio de
Janiero (UNCED, 1992), have made it clear that society expects that forests will be
managed to sustain a wider array of forest resources than wood production alone.
Recognition of this fact is causing foresters to re-think how they apply foresty
prescriptions to both large forested landscapes and to site-specific situations. Most
foresters of my generation learned to think about silviculture in terms of stand-level
prescriptions, without considering the implications for the broader landscape, or
ecosystem. Today in the United States, there is a considerable amount of effort underway
to define the ecosystem principles appropriate for federal lands, and how private forest
lands can contribute to ecosystem management. A similar effort is occurring on provincial
forest lands in Canada.
In Washington state, several of our forest managers and research scientists
participated in a recent workshop sponsored by the University of Washington, College of
Forest Resources, that identified the following ecological objectives for industrial
forest lands (University of Washington, 1993).
- Protection of riparian areas and wetlands areas and wetlands
- Provision of habitat for early and mid-successional species
- Assisting public land managers in meeting their responsibilities for late-successional
ecosystems
- Maintaining site productivity
The ecological objectives now being identifed for industrial forest lands are the
latest development in the recent history of private forest practice in the United States.
During the past twenty years, forest management on private lands has become increasingly
subject to requirements to protect and enhance water quality, wildlife and fisheries
habitat, and other nontimber resources.
The Pacific Coast states of Washington, Oregon, and California have comprehensive
forest practices laws and regulations that specify timber harvesting and road construction
standards, regeneration requirements, and protection measures for water quality, riparian
zones, and a variety of wildlife habitat characteristics.
Forestry operations in other parts of the United States are conducted according to
voluntary best management practices developed cooperatively by the forest industry and
state forestry agencies. The end-result goals are the same; protection of public resources
and the basic environmental attributes of managed forests, while maintaining the ability
and incentive for private forest landowners to produce a continuous supply of timber for
future generations.
In recognition of the changing public expectations for industrial forest stewardship,
the American Paper Institute, now known as the American Forest and Paper Association, in
1992 adopted Forest Management Principles that established nationwide performance goals
for industrial forest lands (American Paper Institute, 1992). Member companies are pledged
to implement these Principles, which include:
- Practicing a land stewardship ethic which integrates the growing, nurturing, and
harvesting of trees for useful products with the conservation of soil, air, and water
quality, wildlife and fish habitat, and aesthetics.
- Managing forests to maintain and improve their health and productivity.
- Promoting successful reforestation, thus preventing deforestation or the loss of forest
productivity.
- Managing forests in biologically, geologically, and historically significant areas in a
manner that takes into account their special qualities.
- Supporting research and employing state-of-the-art scientific and sivicultural knowledge
to enhance forest resources.
- Protecting forests from wildfire, insects, diseases, and other damaging agents.
- Providing a safe and healthy work environment for industry employees, and continuing to
improve management of our operations to better protect public health and safety.
- Strengthening educational and communications efforts to improve understanding of the
wise use of forest resources and to respond to public concerns.
Industrial forestry performance goals such as these will become normal expected
practice over the next few years, certainly in the developed countries, and likely in the
developing countries for forests that are managed by international forest products
companies. Rather than resist this expectation, we should view such performance goals as
an opportunity to demonstrate that industrial forestry is an environmentally preferred
land use where a broad range of forest resource goals can be satisfied and sustained.
In summary, increasing population and growing demand for forest products are placing an
unacceptable burden on the world's remaining natural forests. In the next few years, large
areas of the remaining primary forests will be reserved from commercial use in order to
protect biological diversity and endangered species habitats, as well as to ameliorate
global climate change.
Future paper and forest products requirements will be increasingly provided by
industrial forests, and other intensively managed private and public forests. Worldwide
experience with intensive forest management has shown that per hectare growth and yield
can be significantly increased.
Managers of industrial forests are now being challenged to demonstrate that intensive
forestry is sustainable, and compatible with broader ecosystem management goals. During
this decade foresters around the world are learning to integrate intensive silvicultural
practices with protection of wildlife habitats and other environmental goals.
As we approach the next century, we are entering a period of tremendous opportunity for
industrial forest landowners. People around the world require the wood products that
industrial forests provide. Intensive management of private forest land will enable
society to preserve the best of our remaining natural forests for noncommercial uses. It
is truly a time when the public will both understand and realize the benefits of
farsighted and long-term industrial forest stewardship.
American Paper Institute. 1992. Forest Management Principles. Washington, D. C.
Brooks, David J. 1993. U. S. Forests in a Global Context: an issue paper for the
Resources Planning Act Assessment. USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research
Station, Corvallis, Oregon.
Food and Agricultural Organization. 1991. Forest Products: World outlook projections.
Forestry Paper 84. Rome: United Nations. Volume 1, 190 p.
Food and Agricultural Organization. 1992b. The forest resources of the tropical zone by
main ecological regions. Rio de Janiero, Brazil: United Nations Conference on Environment
and Development. 30 p.
Haynes, Richard W. 1990. An Analysis of the Timber Situation in the United States:
1989-2040. USDA Forest Service. General Technical Report RM-l99. Washington, D. C.
UNCED. 1992. Non-legally Binding Authoritative Statement of Principles For A Global
Consensus On The Management, Conservation, and Sustainable Development Of All Types Of
Forests. United Nations Conference on Environement and Development. Rio de Janiero,
Brazil. 3-14 June 1992. 7 p.
University of Washington. 1993. The Role of Industrial Forestlands in the Management of
Western Washington's Forest Ecosystems. Olympic Natural Resources Center, College of
Forest Resources. Seattle, Washington.
WCED. 1987. Our Common Future. The World Commission On Environment And Development.
Oxford University Press. 400 P
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