‘Cutting tree more sustainable’
Forestry expert says selective cutting for timber maximizes carbon storage capacity
CONTRARY to popular belief, cutting mature trees for timber is sustainable, said a forestry professor of the University of Wisconsin in the United States (US).
Dr. Scott Bowe of the Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology of the University of Wisconsin said sustainable use of forest resources considers not only environmental protection but also social and economic needs.
“There are many misconceptions of how forests are managed and harvested in the US,” he said during the American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC) 19th Southeast Asia and Greater China Convention in Tianjin, China on June 26.
Bowe said that in the US, only mature trees are cut in compliance with regulations on legal and sustainable timber sourcing.
He corrected the notion that harvest of mature hardwood results in clearing forests.
He said that unlike US softwood species that are grown in plantations, hardwood trees grow in natural forests so they are not of the same age. Harvesting of hardwood trees are done by single-tree selection of mature trees so the area does not become denuded, he added.
Regeneration
He said hardwood forests are allowed to regenerate because there is no clearing. The next harvest would be 10 to 15 years later, he added.
“The question should not be how many trees were cut but how many trees were planted,” AHEC executive director Michael Snow said.
Bowe said forestlands in the US are growing contrary to allegations that overharvesting has diminished forest resources.
He said that in 1987, US forestlands occupied 296 million hectares. This increased to 300 million in 1997, 304 in 2007 and 310 in 2012.
Some member-companies of the Cebu Furniture Industries Foundation Inc. import hardwood from the US because they are assured of compliance with regulations on legal sourc- ing of timber products as provided under the amended Lacey Act of the US and the European Union Timber Regulations.
Forestland
Nearly 40 percent of forestlands in the US are owned by private individuals; 19 percent by private industries; 19 percent by the Federal Government; 12 percent, other federal governments; nine percent, state; and two percent by the county or municipal government.
Rupert Oliver of Forest Industries Intelligence Ltd. said the AHEC 2008 Seneca Creek Study revealed that the risk of illegal harvest by non-industrial forestland owners in the US is “negligible.”
Oliver said during the AHEC convention that long-life timber products have much better carbon footprint. “Use of renewable timber leads to carbon credit since emissions are replaced by regrowth,” he said.
He said the carbon sequestered in a harvested mature tree remains trapped during the entire life span of the end-product.
He cited as example the Forbidden City in Bei- jing, China, which is made of about 110,000 tons of wood (assuming that one square meter of floor area is made up of 75 tons of wood). He said the 500-year-old Imperial Palace stores about 200,000 tons or 110 million cubic meters of carbon dioxide.
Oliver said energy efficiency is key in reducing the carbon footprint of wood products. In this aspect, he said, wooden product designers play a major role.
He encouraged designers to use unprocessed wood to reduce energy inputs; reduce waste through use of small dimension offcuts and chips; design products that are simple, timeless and durable.