Agenda - 12-04-1995 - X-F - Laserfiche WebLink

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3 Current Forestry Practices in Orange County & the Impact of New Oriented Strand Board Mills Current Practice: Mixed pine and hardwood forests make up a large measure of Orange County's scenic : beauty. The private landowners who own this resource have a variety of objectives. Some will preserve the land for its aesthetics and some will hold this land for development, removing the best timber before homes are built. This group has brought about a new forestry term - the Development Cut. Development cuts are terrible for forest management since the high quality seed stock is removed leaving only low value (in commercial terms) trees. This doesn't seem to be a problem since housing is the main goal and the high quality trees do fill market needs. Development poses a greater threat to maintaining a useable forest resource than do timber harvesting practices. Approximately 90% of harvested stands are reforested for future timber production. In contrast, once an area is developed the remaining timber is, for all intents and purposes, untouchable. The third landowner group consists of citizens who see their woodlands as a financial resource. It may be an insurance policy in case of failing health or a child's college fund. Others in this group actively manage the forest resource for maximum financial return by taking advantage of the cost share funds and services of private consultants and local resource agencies (see Appendix 1). The new mills will be welcomed by these landowners because they give them markets for non crop trees such as "junk hardwoods" and pine plantation thinnings. Local Forest Ranger Brad Bowling states it best, "It's like having someone come and pull weeds out of your garden or croplands and pay you for it." For the growers who reforest after cutting the final sawtimber crop, reforestation costs will be greatly reduced because the previously non-commercial trees were removed years earlier. Previously these "junk hardwoods" had to be killed, burned or piled at the landowners' expense ($25-125/acre). Lower reforestation costs equals less public cost sharing ultimately saving taxpayers money. Even landowners who manage for aesthetics will benefit from the new mills. They will be able to remove undesirable trees to create a more park-like stand. The revenues will enable them to make other improvements to the aesthetics of their property which ultimately benefits all Orange County citizens. The Impacts of New OSB Plants The Person County Louisiana Pacific Plant's primary raw material need is pine pulpwood. They plan to get this wood from pine plantation thinnings. They will take some soft hardwood, but it is not their primary need. LP will not take any oak or hickory. Their 100 truckload/day wood requirement will also include tops from sawtimber.