The North American forest industry has long been an important part of North America’s economy.
The industry has traditionally been the only industrial demand on timberland creating a long established
balance between the supply (timberland) and the demand (manufacturing). Recently the forest industry
has been troubled due to the collapse of the solid wood products largest market, housing, and a global
recession. These troubled times have lead many operation in the industry to curtail operations. Since
the industry curtailed, high oil prices and increasing environmental concern have advocated the
investment in renewable energy sources.
As a renewable energy source, biomass holds great potential for satisfying a portion of our
continental energy demands. This increased demand for timberland products could be very profitable to
the timberland owners but also holds many concerns to the extent of additional supply that can be
harvested from our timberlands. Further complicating the balance of supply and demand are the large
global and domestic effects that are reducing the total amount of timberland and increasing the
demand for the remaining timberlands.
The supply and demand changes have the potential to make the forest industry evermore important
part of the North American economy but care must be taken to not over extend our resources.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/16124 |
| Date | 02 December 2009 |
| Creators | Pearson, Alexander Svend |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Relation | University of British Columbia, Forestry Undergraduate Essays/Theses, 2008 winter session, WOOD 493 |
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