MFI believes 40 percent more timber should be made available

The amount of wood harvested on county-managed land in Koochiching County should be increased, according to a timber industry organization.

Minnesota Forest Industries asked the county last week to consider harvesting 40 percent more wood.

The increase in harvest is not feasible, according to Land Commissioner Dennis Hummitzsch. Koochiching now harvests from 75,000 to 85,000 cords of wood a year on land it manages,  Commissioner Mike Hanson said.

The suggestion is a result of a forest products task force reconvened last fall by Gov. Tim Pawlenty to address the challenges the timber industry is currently facing.

Task force

MFI is only encouraging Minnesota counties to increase their timber harvest and no formal request has been made, Director of External Relations Terry Weber said last week. MFI is working with the Legislature to establish policies recommended by the task force.

The task force considered the competitiveness of Minnesota’s timber industry and the recommendations are an attempt to improve competition in a world market system, Hummitzsch said Monday.

The task force recommended the total harvest from Minnesota counties be increased from the 588,000 cords now harvested on county-managed land in the sate to 700,000-850,000 cords, Weber said.

MFI recommends harvest on all lands in Minnesota reach 5.5 million cords 2012. That’s how much an impact statement estimated is available to be cut in Minnesota and MFI is trying to find out if its possible, Weber said.

Inventory information about Koochiching County’s forests lead to MFI’s estimate that 40 percent more wood could be harvested. The model considered whether the county is harvesting as much as it can, constraints for harvesting and whether the constraints can be loosened, Weber said.

Koochiching County is second to St. Louis County in the amount of wood it harvests among the northern Minnesota counties, Hanson said.

Commissioner Wade Pavleck said Koochiching County is not focused on just the timber in the county’s forests. The county’s land is also used for recreation and the forests provide a habitat for wildlife. But the county is willing to sit down with MFI to consider the idea, Pavleck said.

Commissioner Chuck Lepper said if the county can do better in its harvests, it wants to, but the real issue is sustainability.

Difficult times

Over the last few years challenges in the timber industry have grown for a variety of reasons, Hummitzsch told The Journal Monday.

He pointed to the rise in timber prices , leading to a spike in stumpage rates, which is the price of a tree before it’s cut. The spike caused the market to collapse, Hummitzsch explained. The housing market and transportation and labor costs have also added to the difficult times.

Then Ainsworth Engineered papermills in Cook and Grand Rapids closed and shook the timber industry in Minnesota, Hummitzsch said.

The problem is in supply and demand, according to Weber. In the mid-1990s, the supply was more than the demand. But in the past few years, a shortage occurred, Weber said. In 2005, a shortage of 250,000 cords occurred in the industry. The shortage is causing more timber products to be imported from other countries, Weber said.

Koochiching’s harvest

A county plan calls for a 50-year rotation, meaning the county waits until aspen trees are economically mature to cut them, Hummitzsch said. The plan also takes into consideration the age class structure of the forest, he said.

Each species and each age class in the forest has a target level to be cut, Hummitzsch said.

The county also has stands of hardwood that are tough to harvest because of their location. And that may account for why MFI believes the county has 40 percent more wood that could be harvested, he said. The county targets aspen when harvesting, which helps to encourage harvest of the hardwoods at the same time, Hummitzsch said last week.

The county has already implemented a 10-percent increase in harvest to encourage loggers to cut old wood by making more wood available.

Having too much or not enough wood in one age class can create a gap in distribution that can lead to a shortage, Hummitzsch said.

MFI is concerned about the age of trees in Minnesota as forest mortality is increasing, Weber said. As a tree ages, its quality decreases, making it more susceptible to insects and disease. In 2004, 3.2 million cords died, with a 700,000 cord mortality rate on county-owned lands in Minnesota, according to Weber.