 United
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Forest Service |
 Southern Research Station200 W.T. Weaver Boulevard Asheville, NC 28804 |
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Productivity and Ownership of Southern Forests Evolve
Asheville,NC -- In Productivity of Southern Pine Plantations: Where Are We and How Did We Get Here? John Stanturf and colleagues state that efforts by researchers and managers have resulted in the South’s forests being the Nation’s most productive, perhaps pine plantations in particular. The South produces more timber than any other country in the world. Stanturf, project leader, Southern Research Station, Athens, GA; Robert C. Kellison, forestry consultant, Raleigh, NC; F.S. Broerman, forestry consultant, Savannah, GA; and Stephen B. Jones, vice-chancellor, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, discuss productivity and sustainability on several levels. Productivity can refer to productive capacity in the sense of yield of usable biomass at the plantation stand level. At the site level, bioeconomic productivity refers to tree-environment and tree-vegetation interactions, including biologically and technically feasible options. Socioeconomic productivity merges Government regulations and management of scarce resources - finding the economic optimum yield level within the constraints of being a good corporate citizen. Companies must meet legal and social norms for protecting water quality and quantity, air quality, human health, wildlife, and other valuable and finite resources.
Sustainability frames the matrix in which cultural values and other societal concerns (e.g., intergenerational equity, biodiversity maintenance, and long-term site productivity) are embedded. Working within Government regulations internalizes the social costs of producing wood fiber. Attending to the issue of sustainability adds complexity, depth, and significance to the cost of doing business. Stanturf and his co-authors ask, “Does research to address regulatory or sustainability questions qualify as productivity research? Probably not. But productivity research that ignores sustainability concerns likely is irrelevant.”
Productivity of Southern Pine Plantations: Where Are We and How Did We Get Here? reports that mergers of forest industry companies and land sales to financial institutions have resulted in transfers of more than 15 million acres in the past four years, with a further 12 to 15 million acres expected to transfer out of industry ownership over the next 10 years. Financial institutions typically act as timber investment management organizations (TIMO) or real estate investment trusts (REIT). These corporate owners own timberland as part of an investment portfolio for clients and presumably will sell timber and land at some economicalloptimum rotation age. A TIMO offers an economic advantage over industrial timberland ownership in that income at time of sale is taxed only once, whereas industrial income is taxed twice - at the corporate level and again at the shareholder level. An REIT pays no tax on income, but is required to distribute 90 percent of its net proceeds. Recognizing this new ownership category - “other corporate owners” - creates a significant change in the mosaic of southern landholders. Looking ahead seven or 15 years to the time when tree crops will likely be harvested, Stanturf and his co-authors wonder what will happen to the land. Will it be held by the corporate owners and regenerated or sold? If the land is sold, will it be developed for urban uses, converted to agriculture, or kept in forest? The answers have far-reaching ramifications not only for the forestry profession, but also the South as a region, we who live here, and others whose livelihood and quality of life benefit from the area’s natural resources.
Contact John Stanturf (jstanturf@fs.fed.us; 706.559.4316)for more information about the productivity of southern pine plantations.
Stanturf, John A.; Kellison,
Robert C.; Broerman, F.S.; Jones, Stephen B. 2003.
Productivity of
southern pine plantations - where are we and how did we get here? Journal of Forestry. 101 (3): 26-31.
Full text article:
http://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/pubs/5461
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