Economics

Percentage of total logging program cost spent for all environmental analysis/documentation and appeals/litigation: less then 6% in fiscal year 1995.  (The timber industry claims that environmental regulations are the cause of money losing timber sales on public lands.)

Longview, Washington      Dan Dancer
 
 

In fiscal year 1996, nearly $800 million was appropriated from the General Fund of the U.S. Treasury (i.e. from taxpayers pockets) for expenditures associated with the timber sale program on National Forests.  In addition, the Forest Service spent another $532 million from its off-budget logging accounts for additional expenses of the logging program.  In the same year, the logging program generated only $535 million in timber sales receipts, and none of these receipts were returned to the General Fund of the Treasury.

The Forest Service predicts that, by the year 2000, recreation, hunting, and fishing in National Forests will contribute 31.4 times more income to the nation's economy, and will create 38.1 times the number of jobs, than logging on National Forests.

Environmental protection stimulates economic development as new residents and businesses flock to areas known for clean water, access to recreation, strong environmental protection, and overall quality of life.  A recent study that compared environmental protection laws with economic performance on a state-by-state basis consistently found that states with high environmental standards led economic growth.  (Institute for Southern Studies, Hall, Bob, “Green and Gold,” 1994.)  The Pacific Northwest, for example, led the nation in job creation, income generation, and success in attracting new businesses and residents from 1988-1995, even as traditional industries
including aerospace and timber were sharply declining.   Many economists attribute the impressive growth to the region's reputation as “providing a superior, attractive environment in which to live, work, and do business.  The natural environment appears to be especially important.”  (Power, T.M.,ed., “Economic Well-Being and Environmental protection in the Pacific Northwest: A Consensus Report by Pacific Northwest Economists, University of Montana, 1995.)

Between 1979 and 1988, while logging levels increased dramatically, more than 26,000 timber industry jobs disappeared due to automation and exports.  In 1979 it took almost 5 workers to produce 1 million board feet of timber.  By 1990, it took only 3 workers to produce the same amount.  In the Southeast, new chip mills can consume 200 square miles of forest in 3 years, while employing as few a 4-12 workers.

Federal timber supplies are insignificant to the lumber and wood products sector. Between 1988 and 1996, the amount of timber logged from national Forests dropped by 70 percent, from 12.6 billion board feet to 3.9 board feet.  During the period, national employment in lumber and wood products jobs actually rose.  In 1988, the lumber and wood products sector supported 771,000 jobs with a $15.2 billion payroll.  In 1996, the sector supported 778,000 jobs with a $20 billion payroll.  This phenomenon occurred in even the most timber dependent regions.  For example, in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico - home of the Vallecitos Sustained Yield Unit - wood products employment rose in the 1990-1994 period even though federal timber sales dropped by 88 percent.  In 1990,
there were 127 employees with a $2.6 million payroll.  In 1994, after logging restrictions virtually eliminated federal timber sales, employment rose to 225 employees with a $3.6 million payroll.
 

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