CHANGING PERSPECTIVES ON THE OUTLOOK FOR TIMBER IN THE UNITED-STATES

Rates of population and economic growth and the intensity of private forest management are but three of a much broader array of conditions influencing the long-term outlook of the U. S. forest sector. Equally important sources of uncertainty are trends in interest rates, the species and product mix of forest products consumption, use of wood for energy, forest products exports, the cost of wood in Canada, rate of technical improvements in wood and fiber processing, and levels of national forest harvests. Simultaneous changes in only a few of these conditions can lead to future trends in the forest sector that differ significantly from traditional expectations of increasing forest resource scarcity in the United States.