| Though sawmills in the Northeast are highly dependent on local sawlog supplies to meet production requirements, few data are available to characterize wood procurement at scales that are relevant to industry professionals and policy makers. This study uses a range of methods to expand our understanding of wood procurement by this industry and explores the relationships between wood procurement and a variety of socioeconomic and ecologic variables. The study focuses on sawmills in the United States and Canada that are located within 100 miles of the Northern Forest - a 26 million acre area of spruce-fir and mixed hardwood forest that spans Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York. Based on data collected with a mail survey in 2006, procurement is described using a variety of variables, including woodshed area, proportion of wood supply from alternative sawlog sources, and perceptions of changes in the sawlog resource between 1994 and 2005. Woodshed maps provided by 273 sawmills were digitized in GIS and used to analyze the effects of land cover and land use on woodshed area. These maps are also the foundation of a spatial analysis of wood procurement pressure across the Northern Forest region.;The geographic range of procurement operations is highly variable, but falls between 30 and 70 miles for most mills in this region, with an average woodshed area of 4230 square miles for respondent American sawmills. Gatewood accounts for the largest proportion of procurement, but there are significant differences among different types of mills with regards to the relative importance of alternative sawlog sources. In general, mill attributes, not landscape variables, are the best predictors of woodshed area. Based on survey responses, the majority of sawmill managers believe that the quality and volume of the sawlog resource is in decline, but Canadian mills with procurement in the U.S. tended to have a more positive outlook on the log supply. Spatial analysis emphasizes the intensity of wood procurement on commercial forestlands in Maine, but also identifies distinct procurement patterns in other states. These and other results are discussed in light of regional changes in industry structure, forest ownership, land use, and land cover. Implications related to rural development, log exports, energy costs, forest stocking, harvesting practices, and other factors are also discussed.;Keywords: wood procurement, lumber production, sawmill industry, international trade, land use change, geographic information systems, spatial analysis... |
