Title: Regional Changes in the Timber Resources of and Lumber Production in Pennsylvania

Author: Luppold, William G.; Bumgardner, Matthew S.

Year: 2005

Publication: In: Alavalapati, Janaki R.R.; Carter, Douglas R., eds. Competitiveness of southern forest products markets in a global economy: trends and redictions, proceedings of the Southern Forest Economics Workshop 2004; 2004 March 14-16; St. Augustine, FL. School of Forest Resources Conservation, University of Florida: 60-69.

Abstract: In this study we examine regional differences in the hardwood timber resources of Pennsylvania and explain how the combined changes in this resource and in lumber prices have influenced regional lumber production. Isolation of these relationships is important because shifts in lumber production affect harvesting levels and harvesting activity influences long-term forest composition and structure. We define three hardwood regions in Pennsylvania based on forest composition and present a chronology of regional changes in sawtimber volumes, sawtimber composition, and lumber production. Regional changes in hardwood lumber production are related to fluctuation in the inflation-adjusted price of lumber from 1970 to1999. We found that regional changes in lumber production are influenced by a combination of variations in interspecies price and regional changes in species composition.