Why you can not buy good lumber at the big box stores.

We had a paper mill in Georgetown recently in the process of closing down putting 700 people out of work. I could never understand why there was never a commercial saw mill here when I see these huge pines going to the mill for pulp wood. Always thought what a waste of good timber. My short time at the Forest service all they were interested in was growing Loblolly Pines grow fast and harvest quick for the paper mill then replant with Loblolly pines. Guess with the mill closing there won't be a market for pulp wood.

 

Chi-nah

 

I have to wonder what happens to the bazillion acres that International Paper owns in the area when the mill closes.

 

Be interesting to see if some other company buys the mill --not only mill l workers out of work but all the loggers and truckers hauling logs to the mill. Georgetown has taken a big hit again the steel mill has been closed for awhile now

 

Had some windows replaced last Fall by Renewal By Anderson. The carpenter who did the outside work left me about two dozen 2x4's and 2x6's which were not up to his standards and would have been thrown out when they got home....too warped to use, but loaded in the lumberyard. I can probably use 1/2 of the total lengths for small proects, but not one was suitable to use the entire length of.

 

Probably what happens on the old paper mill land here in New Hampshire. If it is worth anything they either hang on to it or sell it. If is not worth anything , too steep for a goat farm or too wet for moose, they will get some green organization to get a grant, find enough suckers with money,etc, to buy it at a "reduced price" and turn it into a "wilderness area". No more logging and the company gets a tax break for their conservation good deed. Then 15 or 20 years latter all the dead trees etc, will give you a major forest fire in an area that hasn't had one in a hundred years. The pulp industry had built access roads that allowed access to fight the small fires. They had kept the forest clean and litter free, got rid of the dead trees, and in general reduced the fire danger.

 

The Francis Marion Forest here in SC is managed by the US Forest Service many years ago they would go in to a hardwood area and inject all the trees (kill them). They would issue firewood permits and you could go in these areas and cut all the dead trees. Forest Service was only interested in planting quick growth pines for pulpl. The Forest Service quit that practice (environmentalist raised hell) now you can only cut trees that are dead on the ground for firewood.