How long would it take for those trees to grow back? Around here, it takes about 17 years from seedling to a pulpwood cut and 25 years for a sawlog cut. Barring any droughts.
No idea. Dad was a forestry major and would know, but he’s gone to Valhalla.
Bronze star, Legion of Merit, air medals, EIB.
I I know softwoods like conifers grow faster than deciduous/ hardwoods.
Trees in the Southeast/South Central USA grow quicker to a mechantible size than any other area of the world. Other than the Amazon.
Which is why every major sawmill corporation has built or bought Southern Yellow Pine sawmills from VA to TX, AR in the last thirty years.
The production of Southern Yellow Pine lumber is also the least expensive wood fiber in the world. This is why all the big corporations continue to build now primarily in MS & LA.
Then close mills in Europe, British Columbia and even South Carolina/NC.
Canfor just announced the closure last week of two mills in SC that they bought about twenty years ago.
In most of the colder areas of the Northern Hemisphere it takes 60-80 years to grow a tree to harvestible size.
The farther you go north, the shorter the growing season.
Politics also has a lot to do with where mills are built and trees are cut. The USA has a Countervailing Duty and an Anti Dumping Duty on all lumber coming from Canada. The amounts of those are both scheduled to go up again this summer.
This will make lumber in the USA more expensive on average.
Prior to Russia invading the Ukraine there was a lot of timber coming out of western Russia and going to mills in Germany, Sweden, the Balics, etc. That is because Russia has OLD GROWTH Spruce timber. Literally the nicest in the world.
All the mills in Europe were buying it because it was better and cheaper than timber from their own countries.
My company was importing Russian lumber mostly in the form of 1x4 & 1x6 high grade boards. As soon as Russia invaded they put a 30% tariff and a lot of companies would not buy it for political reasons.