Characterizing the Movement and Utilization of Federal Timber at the Sub-State Level: Method and Applications

Accurate information on the movement and utilization of timber sold by the USDA Forest Service (Forest Service) has historically been difficult to access. Such data have useful applications in the appraisal process, for estimating the location and size of economic impacts to people and communities and for planning management actions. There is some evidence that agency utilization definitions lag improvements in industry utilization practices leading to a discrepancy between administratively determined uses and actual uses of timber sold. Furthermore, the relationship between the origin of harvested wood and the location of processing are increasingly important in the context of climate and clean energy policies as many rely on quantification of the greenhouse gas emissions from the harvest, transport and use of wood for various end products. In this study we compare available data on timber harvested from Forest Service administrative reports with mill-reported uses of federal timber collected by USDA Forest Service Research & Development’s National Resource Use Monitoring program in order to demonstrate a method for estimating national forest timber movement and utilization “signatures”.