cameronm

Adding Wood to Your Portolio: A Worthwhile Investment

Timber companies do not deforest the land they own. They typically harvest 1-2%/year, and as mentioned above when prices are low they might harvest less. It takes 75 years for a douglas fir tree to reach optimal maturity and as little as 8-10 years for cottonwoods and cypress trees (in the southeast). Timber is valuable so it is a well managed resource. The Boy Scouts of America for instance harvests 1-2% of the timber on the land they own each year. Timber is such a good business that we have seen a net re-forestation of North America. There is as much or more timber growing today as there was in 1870. That is precisely because it is managed and the economic value helps ensure that land that can support timber, does.

BTW, Science magazine has run a couple articles about North America being a net carbon sink because of the vast amount of trees and timber -- that is that North American forests actually absorb more carbon than is produced.