Increasing Mass Timber Consumption in the U.S. and Sustainable Timber Supply

Jeff Comnick, Luke Rogers and Kent Wheiler
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Jeff Comnick: Natural Resource Spatial Informatics Group, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
Luke Rogers: Natural Resource Spatial Informatics Group, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
Kent Wheiler: Center for International Trade in Forest Products, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-14

Abstract: Mass timber products are growing in popularity as a substitute for steel and concrete, reducing embodied carbon in the built environment. This trend has raised questions about the sustainability of the U.S. timber supply. Our research addresses concerns that rising demand for mass timber products may result in unsustainable levels of harvesting in coniferous forests in the United States. Using U.S. Department of Agriculture U.S. Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) data, incremental U.S. softwood (coniferous) timber harvests were projected to supply a high-volume estimate of mass timber and dimensional lumber consumption in 2035. Growth in reserve forests and riparian zones was excluded, and low confidence intervals were used for timber growth estimates, compared with high confidence intervals for harvest and consumption estimates. Results were considered for the U.S. in total and by three geographic regions (North, South, and West). In total, forest inventory growth in America exceeds timber harvests including incremental mass timber volumes. Even the most optimistic projections of mass timber growth will not exceed the lowest expected annual increases in the nation’s harvestable coniferous timber inventory.

Keywords: mass timber; cross-laminated timber (CLT); embodied carbon; sustainable timber supply; forest inventory; reforestation; seedlings; replanting (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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