Characteristics of transborder wood flow to sawmills in eastern Canada

Abstract

This paper characterizes the wood procurement operations of Canadian sawmills within 300 kilometres of the Northern Forest, which is a 12 million hectare area of mixed hardwood and coniferous forest that spans 4 states in the northeastern United States. Based on data collected from a mail survey administered in 2006, wood procurement is quantified in terms of the percentage of supply from transborder sources, the geographic range of procurement operations, the relative importance of alternative sawlog sources, and perceived changes in the availability and quality of the sawlog resource. Over 1/3 of the 5.17 million m3 of procurement reported in the survey originated in the United States. On average, mills that have little or no procurement in Canada routinely range 240 kilometres or more to meet procurement requirements, predominantly from roadside sources in the United States. Mills that procure all of their wood within Canada range 114 kilometres on average, and procure 73% of their wood supply from provincial Crown lands. A majority of mills in the sample reported that the quality of logs and the volume per log within their woodshed declined between 1994 and 2005. Based on a logistic regression model of 4 predictor variables, distance to the U.S. border and access to logs from provincial Crown lands are significant predictors of the use of transborder log sources. In addition to providing valuable baseline data, results suggest that mills without access to provincial Crown lands may be disproportionately impacted by high fuel prices and parcelization of private forest land in the United States. Results are discussed in light of these and other industry trends. Key words: sawmill industry, log imports, international trade, wood procurement