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Politics : Bill Clinton Scandal - SANITY CHECK -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Daniel Schuh who wrote (9967)	10/17/1998 9:40:00 PM
From: one_less	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 67261

I have to agree with most of your comments on old growth timber. I swung a ho-dad (tree planting tool) for a couple of years back in the early seventies. Some of the lumber sites had been replanted several times before my crew got there with not much success, and I'm generally against clear cutting because whether you are an environmentalist or not the only ones who benefit from this is the lumber company doing the cutting. The cost of recovery doesn't justify it. Forest cutting is often under specific contract, and the bidder who can get the most board feet at the least cost wins. They don't encumber the cost of recovery and regrowth though. So to tax payer's it is a rip off. When I read the earlier post, I understood this issue involved infestation of the pine bark beetle. That is a different story. <<For the most part, it's not a renewable resource,...> What? If you are talking about the lumber industry in the NW, for the most part it is a renewable resource. Or, is this bill about some specific old growth areas?

To: Daniel Schuh who wrote (9967)	10/17/1998 9:42:00 PM
From: jbe	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 67261

Dan, How about using hemp to produce paper? I read once that you can get a lot more paper out of an acre of hemp than out of a hundred acres of forest....Apparently the soil in tobacco-producing areas of Kentucky & Virginia & etc. is ideal for growing hemp, and indeed hemp used to be the most widespread crop there in earlier times.. Hey, let's get rid of the tobacco, plant hemp instead, and save the forests at the same time! Some local politicians reportedly were trying to promote that idea, but of course ran into the marijuana laws, even though I gather you cannot produce smokeable marijuana from commercial hemp... What do you say? jbe

To: Daniel Schuh who wrote (9967)	10/18/1998 4:02:00 AM
From: Dwight E. Karlsen	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 67261

Daniel, your knowledge of the building industry is obviously regional. i.e. Wisconson-centric. >>Dwight, you obviously know a lot about the timber industry. Not. Lots of good "facts" above.<< I'm not an expert of the timber industry, but I have been involved in the home-construction industry for most of my life, in various capacities. During high-school I drove a forklift at a pre-fab home manufacturer here in the Pacific NW. After high school I worked as a laborer on house framing crews in the Pacific NW, the New England area, and also for a short time in Florida. For the last ten years I've been an accountant serving mainly construction industry clients. I can tell you then, that here in the Pacific NW we have always exclusively constructed homes with Douglas Fir, and never have used southern yellow pine. southern yellow pine is used in the New England area, and also Florida. But I don't believe it's even sold here in the Pacific NW. Thirty-five miles north of me is one of the largest log-sorting yards in the world, in Longview, WA, home of Longview Fibre lumber company. Again, we're talking Douglas Fir. As for paper, I know that there are fast-growing trees planted in rows and harvested. One such example is right beside I-5. They are probably Alder or Cottonwoods. As for old-growth, you're right, most of the large stands are gone, and the Douglas Fir we use here in the Pacific NW is certainly not in the old-growth catagory. The large timber companies here have been replanting Douglas Fir for several decades, and in fact log areas which contain trees 20-25 years old, which were planted by the timber company. Trees are a renewable resource.