Challenges to Sawmill Businesses in New England and New York State: A Survey of Wood Procurement Managers

Abstract

Abstract Forests and large population centers dominate the landscape of New England (NE) and New York. We investigated factors that may impact the ability of sawmill procurement organizations in the region to obtain wood raw material by surveying mill procurement managers in the region. We found that, although symptoms of population pressures, such as decreasing size of forest parcels and terminal harvesting due to land-use change, were important constraints for many mills and appeared to be increasingly problematic, other factors, such as energy costs, appeared to present far greater challenges to most mills. Results have implications for both near- and long-term procurement strategies and may be relevant to forest products businesses nationwide.