Fact:
Less waste and more recycling could easily replace the four percent
of the wood products that
come from the National Forests. One out of every two trees cut
in this country is wasted
through inefficient utilization and lack of recycling. (Worldwatch
Institute, State of the World,
"Reforming Forestry," 1991.) Alternatives for pulp and building materials
exist, but cannot
compete favorably with subsidized National Forest timber.
There is no shortage of nonwood fiber material in this country.
U.S. farmers annually generate
280 million tons of excess agricultural fiber suitable for paper making.
Generally, these fibers
are known to be pulped with higher fiber yields than wood and require
fewer chemicals, less
water and less energy to be processed.
Farmers would benefit from new income from those residues that would
otherwise be burned,
new opportunities for value-added rotational crops, and new uses for
more than 65 million acres
of idle farmland in the United States.