Pacific Coast Temperate Forest Regional Timber Product Flow Analysis

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service Pacific Northwest (PNW) Research Station has launched a research initiative to improve and organize policy-relevant understanding of forest carbon accounting and fill knowledge gaps about forest carbon dynamics. There are several dimensions to forest carbon accounting, including tracking wood products flow from the forest to various destinations. More information is needed to improve the accounting of timber harvested within the Pacific coast region (PCR; British Columbia, California, Oregon, and Washington) but processed elsewhere. We used publicly available data to examine PCR timber harvest volumes and the flow of sawlogs, pulplogs, and woodchips between the PCR and the rest of the world for the period 1990–2018. We found that most timber harvested within the PCR is processed within the jurisdiction of harvest. The largest percentage of exported volumes consisted of sawlogs at close to two-thirds of the total, with the remaining volumes consisting of logs or chips for pulp, paper, and composite panels. Our analysis concludes that the volume of timber exported from the PCR was less than 10 percent over the course of the study period and, as such, is unlikely to affect the overall harvested wood products carbon accounting for the PCR.