Southern Forests are the fiber basket of the world. As logging decreased in the Pacific Northwest in the early 1990s, it accelerated across the South. Today, the Southern US is the largest wood-producing region in the world, producing 25 percent of the world s paper products and two-thirds of the paper made in the US. According to a 2-year federal study released last November:
• The paper industry is the largest consumer of forests in the region, logging about 5 million acres (an area the size of New Jersey) annually;
• Cutting of softwoods currently exceeds growth and cutting of hardwoods is projected to exceed growth by 2025;
• Millions of acres of natural forests have been converted to industrial tree plantations which provide poor wildlife habitat (75% of the plantations established in the region in the last 20 years were established at the expense of natural forests);
• The South is home to more endangered forest ecosystems than anywhere in the US; and
• Harvest rates are projected to rise to a level that exceeds 8 millions acres a year by 2040 and the area of forests in plantations could double by 2040.
The two biggest paper producers in the South are International Paper (IP) and Georgia Pacific Staples two largest suppliers. With recycled paper now comparable to virgin fiber in quality and price, moving away from cutting trees for paper is now practical for the industry and could yield immense conservation benefits. For example, if IP switched 30% of its wood fiber supply from its mill in Georgetown, SC that is currently supplying Staples to recycled fiber, 16,000 acres of forests a year could be spared from logging. If all the paper mills in the South switched 30% of their wood fiber supply to recycled fiber, 15 million acres (comparable in size to all the forests in Tennessee) would be saved over the next 10 years.
About the Paper Campaign
Since 2000, the Paper Campaign has taken its environmental message directly to the marketplace. By educating consumers, getting the attention of the media, and working directly with corporate decision makers we help reduce the demand for paper from wood, especially from endangered or old-growth forests, and increase the demand for affordable, high quality recycled paper. The largest grassroots, market-based forest protection campaign in the US, the Paper Campaign unites dozens of citizen groups nationwide with an interest in safeguarding America s forest heritage for future generations.
For more information, please visit www.thepapercampaign.com.
Cielo Sand
ForestWatch Director
Dogwood Alliance
POB 87, Sale Creek,TN 37373
423-332-7391
We very much need paddlers willing to monitor forests within the watersheds of their favorite paddling streams! We train! Contact Cielo Sand cielo@dogwoodalliace.org or you can obtain additional information on our website www.dogwoodalliance.org under Programs / Forest Watch.