Raw Timber Research Articles

VALUING A TIMBER HARVEST CONTRACT AS A HIGH‐DIMENSIONAL AMERICAN CALL OPTION VIA LEAST‐SQUARES MONTE CARLO SIMULATION

Abstract Industrial timberland ownership in the United States has shifted substantially in the last 20 years. Having sold their fee‐owned timberlands, forest products companies relied heavily on the open market for raw timber. To reduce their exposure to market risks, however, forest products companies have been using a number of supply chain instruments, such as timber harvest contracts. As these vehicles become increasingly important to the forest industry, it is necessary and important to determine their economic values. In this study, we treated a 3‐year timber harvest contract on a 30‐year‐old loblolly pine plantation as a high‐dimensional American call option and calculated its value by the least‐squares Monte Carlo simulation technique. The estimated values of such a contract ranged from $1,693/ac to $1,984/ac under two timber price assumptions. With reasonable starting timber prices and strike price in the simulation, random timber prices led to higher contract values. Results from this study can help private landowners, timber brokers, and forest products companies better manage their business risks.

Current trends in the Russian Far East forest sector

Having vast areas of high-quality forests, Russia tries to attract more investments in the forest sector for domestic timber processing in order to fill in regional and federal budgets to have more funds available for forest protection and rehabilitation. Comprising over 70% of total forestlands in Russia, forests of the Russian Far East (RFE) are distributed unevenly across provinces. Larch, pine and spruce are the dominant conifer tree species in this vast region, while substantial amounts of forest area and timber volumes can be attributed to oak and ash species. Forest area and tree species distribution are mainly a result of long-lasting natural and anthropogenic impacts, such as forest fires, pest outbreaks, territory development, land-use change, timber harvesting and forestry activities. Mature conifer stands are the most important source of timber both in Russia and in the RFE. Over decades, a predominance of mature conifer species in forest composition became a key strategic factor of timber industry development including domestic consumption and export, mainly roundwood (logs). During the last few decades, the RFE and Siberia forests have been a significant source of timber for domestic use and export to the Asia-Pacific region, mainly, the People's Republic of China, Japan and the Republic of Korea. Current administrative and legislative reforms, introduction of a new Forest Code of the Russian Federation (2006), governmental decisions on the forest sector including an increase of export tariffs on raw timber, a decrease of import tariffs on wood-processing equipment and some other measures have initiated changes in the forest sector of the RFE. New Russian Forest Code empowered provincial authorities for more practical actions, including initiation of investment projects in major forested provinces of Russia. The article examines major challenges occurring in the Russian forest sector from the following positions: forest resources and impacts on them, timber available for harvesting and availability of forest resources in the RFE to meet growing demands in the future, efforts to increase volumes of wood products of higher value added via the export-import policy, and a reaction of the wood products market to these changes. The conclusion is that the steps undertaken by the Russian Government in order to increase revenue from forest sector are beginning to bring their first results.

Enhancement in Mechanical Properties of Bamboo by Press Forming

Raw Japanese timber bamboo was hot-pressed in order to investigate its static and dynamic mechanical properties such as flexural strength, flexural modulus, and impact strength. The purpose of this work was to examine the effect of molding pressure on the mechanical properties of hot-pressed bamboo. The hot-pressing pressures used were varied from 5 to 100 MPa and hot-pressing temperature was fixed to be 160°C. The density, flexural strength and flexural modulus remarkably increased up to 20 MPa, and then gradually increased. However Izod impact strength showed different pressure dependence. In conclusion, remarkable densification both in vascular bundles parts and parenchyma parts was achieved after hot-pressing of bamboo resulting in the increase in density and mechanical properties.

<I>Ophiostoma</I> spp. associated with pine- and spruce-infesting bark beetles in Finland and Russia

The timber and pulp industries of Finland rely heavily on importations from Russia as source of raw timber. These imports raise the risk of accidentally importing forest pests and pathogens, especially bark beetles and their associated fungi, into Finland. Although ophiostomatoid fungi have previously been reported from Finland and Russia, the risks of accidentally moving these fungi has prompted a first survey to compare the diversity of conifer-infesting bark beetles and associated fungi from boreal forests on both sides of the Finnish-Russian border. The aim of the present study was to identify and characterise Ophiostoma species isolated in association with 11 bark beetle species infesting Pinus sylvestris and Picea abies during this survey in the eastern parts of Finland and neighbouring Russia. Fungal isolates were grouped based on morphology and representatives of each morphological group were subjected to DNA sequence comparisons of the internal transcribed spaced region (ITS1, 5.8S, ITS2) and β-tubulin gene region. A total of 15 species of Ophiostoma were identified, including seven known species, five new species, and three species for which the identity remains uncertain. In the O. piceae-complex we identified O. canum, O. floccosum, O. karelicum and O. rachisporum sp. nov., and related to these, some isolates belonging to the European clade of O. minus in the O. minus-complex. Ophiostoma bicolor and O. fuscum sp. nov. were identified in the O. ips-complex, while O. ainoae, O. brunneo-ciliatum, O. tapionis sp. nov. and O. pallidulum sp. nov. were shown to group close to, but not in a strict monophyletic lineage with species of the O. ips-complex. Together with a single O. abietinum-like isolate, the only species that grouped close to the Sporothrix schenckii- O. stenoceras complex, was O. saponiodorum sp. nov.

Forest management and carbon sequestration in wood products

Wood products are considered to contribute to the mitigation of carbon dioxide emissions. A critical gap in the life cycle of wood products is to transfer the raw timber from the forest to the processing wood industry and, thus, the primary wood products. Therefore, often rough estimates are used for this step to obtain total forestry carbon balances. The objectives of this study were (1) to examine the fate of timber harvested in Thuringian state forests (central Germany), representing a large, intensively managed forested region, and (2) to quantify carbon stocks and the lifetime of primary wood products made from this timber. The analyses were based on the amount and assortments of actually sold timber, and production parameters of the companies that bought and processed this timber. In addition, for coniferous stands of a selected Thuringian forest district, we calculated potential effects of management, as expressed by different thinning regimes on wood products and their lifetimes. Total annual timber sale of soft- and hardwoods from Thuringian state forests (195,000 ha) increased from about 136,893 t C (~0.7 t C ha−1 year−1) in 1996 to 280,194 t C (~1.4 t C ha−1 year−1) in 2005. About 47% of annual total timber harvest went into short-lived wood products with a mean residence time (MRT) < 25 years. Thirty-one per cent of the total harvest went into wood products with an MRT of 25–43 years, and only 22% was used as construction wood and glued wood, products with the longest MRT (50 years). The average MRT of carbon in harvested wood products was 20 years. Thinning from above throughout the rotation of spruce forests would lead to an average MRT in harvested wood products of about 23 years, thinning from below of about 18 years. A comparison of our calculations with estimates that resulted from the products module of the CO2FIX model (Nabuurs et al. 2001) demonstrates the influence of regional differences in forest management and wood processing industry on the lifetime of harvested wood products. To our knowledge, the present study provides for the first time real carbon inputs of a defined forest management unit to the wood product sector by linking data on raw timber production, timber sales and wood processing. With this new approach and using this data, it should be possible to substantially improve the net-carbon balance of the entire forestry sector.

합판 제조용 목재 건조공정에서의 휘발성 유기화합물(VOCs) 배출특성

Emission characteristics of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were investigated in the flue gas emitted from wood drying process for plywood manufacturing. The moisture content of raw timber was average 48%, and its density was . But the moisture content of dried wood is needed less than around 10%, thus the moisture contents of flue gas should be remarkably high(about 18.2 V/V%). Therefore, the vapor in flue gas is equivalent to 320 ton-vapor/day when 1100 ton-wood/day is treated in the wood drying process. The temperature of flue gas ranges from in each dryer stack with exception of the input site of wood(about ). The velocity of flue gas in each stack ranges from 1.7 to 9.7m/sec. In order to assess the concentrations and attribution rate of odorous compounds, it was analyzed about 40 VOCs in the flue gases. It was found that the major odorous compounds were 8 compounds, and the concentrations of major VOCs(ppm) were as follows; benzene: , toluene: , ethylbenzene: , m,p-xylene: , styrene: , o-xylene : , ethanol: , -pinene: , -pinene: . The attribution rate of terpenes (-pinene, -pinene) was about 60.56%, and that of aromatics and alcohols was about 22.77%, and 16.67%, respectively. It is suggested that the adequate control device should be used to control both the water soluble and non-soluble compounds because both compounds were mixed in flue gas.

Models of assortment yield tables for poplar clones

The results of research on the production of raw timber assortments for the stands of poplar clones Robusta and I-214 in Slovakia are presented in this paper. Models of assortment yield tables were constructed, separately for each clone, in dependence on the yield class and stand age. The construction was based on the models of yield tables, stand assortment tables, models of external quality and damage to stems. Robusta clone produces by about 15–20% higher proportions of the highest quality assortments than I-214 clone. I-214 clone produces faster and higher proportions of average- and below-average quality assortments.

Quality of wood in the stands of poplar clones

The results obtained in research on the quality of raw timber by means of the structure of assortments for the stands of poplar clones Robusta and I-214 are presented in the paper. Models for an estimation of the structure of basic assortments of poplar stands were constructed separately for each clone in dependence on mean diameter, quality of stems, and damage to stems in the stand. The clone Robusta has higher proportions of higher-quality assortments than the clone I-214. The accuracy of models was determined on empirical material. It was confirmed by statistical tests that the models did not have a systematic error. The relative root mean-square error for main assortments of the clone I-214 is 15–27% and Robusta 13–24%.

Knotty Tales: Canadian Staples and Post-Staples Forest Policy Narratives in an Era of Transition from Extractive to ‘Attractive’ Industries

Political economists have typically understood the forest sector as part of the Canadian staples economy: early European settlers used forests for fuel, farming and construction purposes, and industry began later to cut raw timber and manufacture pulp and paper for export. According to the staples narrative, introduced by William Mackintosh and elaborated by Harold Innis, in order to settle the land and extract its resources, including forest products, colonists and settlers built an entire society and economy “organized around the labour force, technological regime, legal order, and financial system needed to serve the ends of resource extraction”. Building upon Innis’ work, a nationalist political economy school has criticized the domination of the Canadian resource economy by foreign capital, markets and technology, and advocated a ‘made-in-Canada’ industrial strategy. Studies on the forest sector have been especially prominent in probing the contingencies, specificities, and possibilities of building a forest policy that is more socially equitable, more value-added oriented, and more integrated into the national economy. More recently, however, many observers in the political economy and policy community tradition have noted a shift from an “extractive to an attractive model of development” within the forest sector, or what Hutton calls the “staples in decline syndrome”. Though he concedes that it is possible to overstate the staples in decline syndrome, he maintains that “we may be at the advent of a ‘post-staples’ state, in which resource extraction is essentially a residual of the national economic structure, a vestige of an historical development which sustained many Canadian regions”. In order to evaluate the extent to which Hutton’s observations ring true, this chapter grapples with divergent methods of approaching and analysing forestry.

Economic aspects of the selection system of management at the Masaryk Forest Training Forest Enterprise Křtiny

The objective of the paper is to establish an economic result of the management of forest stand under a selection system as exemplified on a model subcompartment. A qualitative research of tree species occurring in Subcompartment 116 D &lt;br /&gt;at the Training Forest Enterprise (TFE) was made for this purpose. Cost and yield models of management were constructed and expected model costs and yields were calculated to establish a model economic result for the subcompartment. The models are entered actual data related to the general principles of management, to the volume of implemented silvicultural operations, and to the production capacity of the site. The volume of logging operations is based on a model decennial allowable cut and its assortment structure. A starting point for the establishment of costs are prices of concrete works set up by the TFE for the year 2004. Yields are calculated on the basis of average prices for raw timber assortments published by the Czech Statistical Office for the period from January to April 2004.

The private cost and timber market implications of increasing strict forest conservation in Finland

Abstract In this paper the private costs of strict forest conservation are studied using Finnish data. First, the conservation-induced changes in the net present value of forest land are estimated together with the consequent compensation needs. Second, a dynamic reduced-form econometric model is estimated to derive the dynamic impacts of forest protection on the Finnish timber markets and forest sector. The estimations show that a conservation program that sets aside up to 3% (an additional 270 000 ha) of the total productive forest land area in southern Finland could result in up to 1 milliard euros in compensation to private landowners. The results of the dynamic analysis of the forest sector indicate that conservation has a price-increasing and quantity-decreasing effect on the timber markets. However, the raw material supply effects on the forest industry's output and raw timber imports are less than expected.

The Effects of Three Thermo Electric Power Plants on Yerkesik-Denizova Forests in Mugla Province (Turkey)

Mugla is a city that is located in the southwest part of Turkey. Three thermo-electric power plants called Yatagan (3 × 210 MW) and Yenikoy (2 × 210 MW)and Kemerkoy (Gokova, 3 × 210 MW) havebeen constructed in this region and also have begun operation in 1982 – 1983 – 1984 (three units), in 1988 and in 1995, respectively. The Pinus brutia forests in Yerkesik–Denizova region have been under the common effects of Yenikoy and Yatagan thermo-electric power plants. Therefore, these Pinus brutia forests have startedto dry in groups since 1988. In addition, Kemerkoy thermo-electric power plant, began operation in 1995.Polluting gases arrived in Denizova-Yerkesik throughKoca Stream Valley Forests.Increasing quantities of polluting gases and especially SO2 have dried the trees in large amounts in this 1650 ha forestland area. YataganThermo-electric power plant has caused drying of Pinus brutia in Bencik Mountain, which was on the south in 1984–1985. The same phenomenon was seen in Denizova-Yerkesik Forest in 1999–2000. It was observed that sulphur content was varying between 4218–6676 ppm at the Pinus brutia needle samples taken in this region on 16 December 2000. Sulphur contents were correlated with the age of needle (1–2 yr old), density of yellow stains on the needles and amount of drying needles. Particularly in 1996–2000 period, the destruction of chlorophyll in needles due to the impacts of SO2 was also correlated with narrowing of the annual rings from one year to another. The narrowing ratio of yearly rings reached 60–504% for 94–95 yr old, and 375–661% for 58–63 yr old Pinus brutia trees during the 1986–1990, 1991–1995 and 1996–2000 periods.All these results clearly showed that the decrease in the chlorophyll content in needles under the effect of air pollution caused important reduction in the raw timber production and its inputs to the economy. In other words, drying due to increased ecological sensitivity or direct hazard of pollutants emitted by the power plants and cutting of trees have been notably increased in the region. This has created serious economic losses.

AESTHETICS APPRECIATION OF WOOD COLOUR AND PATTERNS BY COLORIMETRY: PART 1. COLORIMETRY THEORY FOR THE CIELAB SYSTEM

The colorimetry theory for the CIELab system today allows us to compute the chromatic coordinates of the raw timber colour along the wood - chain industry. The wood industry is nd strongly behind in such areas. Progress in the wood appearance description by means of colour and pattern characteristics would be suitable to classify the wood. It would also help to match pieces of wood in furniture and inside the houses, to study the wood colour change in wood ageing by photodecoloration or by drying operations, and to improve wood colour variability. Key Words: wood colour; colorimetry theory.

Forestry in Japan

Japan has a total productive forest area of 25 million ha of which 31% is owned by the state and 69% is owned by municipalities and the private sector. The total volume of growing stock is 2 484 million m3, of which plantations account for 42% and natural forest 58%. The average volume of growing stock is about 100 m3 ha. The average annual growth and removal are estimated to be 70 million and 40 million m3, respectively. There are three main forest zones; subfrigid in the north, temperate in the centre and warm temperate in the south. Regeneration was recognized as vital to the country's wood supply and environmental reconstruction after the destruction during the Second World War. The average annual planting area is about 200 000 ha with the largest area ever planted, in 1954, accounting for 432 700 ha. Skyline harvesting systems are common except in the northern area of Hokkaido. The Japanese Forestry Agency is the central forestry organization which has the leading role in providing management guidance for private forest owners. Forestry research is conducted by the Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, and by prefectural (equivalent to provincial) and university forest experiment stations. The pulp and paper manufacturing technology is quite advanced. Almost the entire quantity of paper and paperboard needed in Japan is produced domestically, but more than 60% of the raw timber requirement is supplied by imports.

Telephone Development

THE economic blizzard from which the world is now suffering has affected the rate of telephone development in Great Britain to a smaller extent than in any other of the principal nations. Sir Thomas Purves states that the net increase per annum in Great Britain in recent years has been about 125,000 stations. In the last complete year (1931–32) it fell to 84,000. Nevertheless, it is the largest increase recorded in any country of the world for the same period. For the whole of Europe, outside of Great Britain, the net increase was less than 200,000. In some countries the number of cessations of service exceeds the number of new subscribers and a net loss is registered. In North America, for example, the net loss is about 550,000 stations. For the current year, it is probable that there will be a net increase in Great Britain of about 80,000 and that many of the countries of Europe will show actual losses. In America there will be a large loss. If a revival of trade occurs, the telephone development of Great Britain will go forward by leaps and bounds. In the matter of underground, telegraph and telephone cables, Great Britain has been from the first a pioneer. For building open telegraph and telephone lines it is still necessary to depend on Norway and Sweden for slow-grown raw timber. English and Scottish mountain pine and Canadian and Australian timber have proved disappointing. The use of poles of metal and concrete has been investigated on numerous occasions, but so far the cost of these alternatives has proved prohibitive. The timber used for general construction purposes is obtained entirely from home and Empire sources. The whole of the extensive radio plant and apparatus for long-distance communication used by the Post Office is of British manufacture.