Minnesota’s announcement that it has set new timber harvest goals has some people in the wood products industry scratching their heads and voicing concerns about the future.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources announced it has set a new 10-year sustainable timber harvest at 870,000 cords offered for sale annually from DNR-managed forest lands. This represents an 8.75 percent increase in the harvest target, the agency said in a news release.
“I think the DNR approach is interesting,” Wayne Brandt, executive vice president of Minnesota Forest Industries and the Minnesota Timber Producers Association, said in an email to The Journal. “They were selling us 800k cords. In FY 2017 and 18 this was increased to 900k cords. Their new number is 870,000 cords. I’m not sure how going from 900k to 870k is an increase. Maybe I need another math class.”
The DNR’s own models show the state’s timber resources can support the harvest of more than 1 million cords annually for the next 15 to 20 years, Brandt later told The Journal.
“I see nothing positive about that study,” said International Falls Mayor Bob Anderson, who has for decades been involved in the paper mill and timber industry. “The counties and private forest lands will need to help out to keep this scenario from going bad to worse.”
Brandt testified Wednesday before the House Subcommittee on Mining, Forestry and Tourism about the concerns industry has about a number of the DNR recommendations he believes should be revisited, adding committee members seemed pretty sympathetic to industry concerns.
“This is an arbitrary reduction in the harvest level we don’t think is appropriate,” he said.
The new sustainable harvest was determined after more than a year of scientific analysis, discussions with stakeholders — including conservation organizations and the forest industry — and public input.
“The DNR conducted a rigorous analysis of our state’s sustainable timber supply. We are confident this new harvest level strikes the right balance between the needs of clean water, wildlife, the forest industry, and recreation,” said Tom Landwehr, DNR commissioner. “This decision reflects careful consideration of the multitude of uses, habitat needs and ecological benefits that come from DNR-managed forest lands.”
Aspen harvest
Over the past two decades, the DNR has worked to reduce an oversupply of older-aged aspen on DNR-managed forest lands. The DNR news release said the oversupply has been largely eliminated and these lands now have a more desired age distribution of aspen that will support valuable wildlife populations and water quality. As a result, future aspen harvest levels will gradually decrease from 400,000 cords annually to 360,000 cords. However, harvest of some other species will increase.
Brandt said models included considering climate change issues that resulted in a decrease in aspen harvest.
“We think it’s interesting to look at in model runs, but it doesn’t mean it’s going to happen in reality,” he said.
Koochiching County Commissioner Wade Pavleck also said an adequate timber supply is critical for the paper industry to continue and compete.
“870k total timber harvest is one thing, but the 40,000 annual cord decrease in future aspen harvest supply is concerning,” he said. “Will ask for update from Nathan (Heibel, county land commissioner) at our next board meeting.”
He also pointed to the United States Forest Service. “The argument is it’s the feds not releasing timber enough,” he said. “It’s way below what it could be. And there’s a bottleneck for expansion on timber use.”
For the past 15 years, the DNR’s annual sale target has been 800,000 cords of timber, said the DNR in the release. “Given that forests are dynamic, ever-changing systems, it was time to do a new, full-scale assessment of the timber harvest levels,” it said.
Anderson said he’s read most of the study and plan. “The industry requested a million cords a year and that should be attainable,” he said. “There’s enough wood in our forests.”
High costs
Both Brandt and Anderson said timber prices are too high in the state and the cost of raw materials is a factor on whether plants operate and companies make investments in their operations.
“We need only look back at the past few years and remember that the oriented strand board plants at Cook, Grand Rapids and Bemidji have all gone down, the paper mill at Sartell has been shut down, two paper machines were shuttered here in the Falls and last month Blandin shut down one of its paper machines.”
Anderson said he’s also concerned about the plan to decrease aspen harvest levels, which he said could cause prices to increase for that species.
“Such a decrease could also have an impact on the habitat that deer, rabbits and ruffed grouse depend on, thus decreasing their numbers,” he said.
Brandt said he’s also not happy the DNR resists acknowledging a “different set of responsibilities on permanent school trust fund lands, adding that more harvest should be allowed. Harvest on school trust lands generate money for the school districts where the lands are designated.
Meanwhile, the DNR said it will also launch a special five-year initiative that could offer up to 30,000 additional cords of ash and tamarack in response to the threat posed by emerald ash borer and eastern larch beetle, two invasive species that kill ash and tamarack trees.
The DNR manages 5 million acres of forest lands – 29 percent of the state’s total forest lands. Timber harvesting occurs on 2.75 million acres of DNR-managed lands that are in state forests, wildlife management areas, and school and university trust lands. These lands provide about 30 percent of the state’s wood supply for a forest products industry that employs 64,000 people and has a $17.1 billion annual economic impact.
In 2016, Gov. Mark Dayton called for an updated assessment to ensure DNR forest management meets the state’s goals of commercial timber production, wildlife habitat, biodiversity, clean water, and recreation.
The DNR sells a variety of tree species from the land it manages, including aspen, red, white, and jack pine, maple, red and white oak, ash, white and black spruce, cedar, and tamarack.
The final report and more information about the analysis are posted on the DNR’s project webpage at www.mndnr.gov/forestry/harvest-analysis.
