From Fosters Daily Democrat, by Ulrika Gerth
New Hampshire's forest products industry is thriving despite mounting pressure from developers and conservation advocates.
Tree farmers and wood manufacturers report "tremendous" demand for their products and say they've struck a balance with state conservation groups.
Rapid development remains a looming threat, but has yet to seriously affect the industry.
"Things are really good, almost every sector is making more money," said Charles Levesque, North East State Foresters Association executive director.
Wood chip sales are skyrocketing, fueled by the record high price of oil. Sawmill production has increased for the last 10 years, and the price of saw log materials has surged by 25 to 100 percent in five years.
"All of a sudden we've got a huge price fight for the lowest-value product," Levesque said. "Producers get paid for wood chips now. A few years ago, they got nothing."
Jasen Stock, executive director of the New Hampshire Timberland Owners Association, said he's optimistic about the future despite reports of strong competition from China and other developing countries. Companies may feel the pinch, he said, but they still are sawing more lumber than 20 years ago.
"The entire supply chain is doing well," Stock said. "We've got a good diversity of buyers."
He called his biggest concern the "huge pressure placed on the land."
Every year, 17,500 acres of forest land disappear to development, mainly in the Seacoast, lower Merrimack River Valley and Lakes Region, according to "New Hampshire's Changing Landscape 2005," a report by the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests.
Tom Chrisenton, who owns 800 acres of hardwood and spruce pine west of Milford, said he regularly gets letters asking about his property.
"I don't know what their ultimate goal is, because we've never responded," said Chrisenton, a forester for 30 years. "I've got more inquiries in the last five years. I don't plan to sell, but you never know. You never know what your family situation is."
He said the rainy spring has driven up the price of timber as piles of wood are stuck in wet forests.
But the rising value may also be an early sign of development encroaching on the timber supply, Levesque said. About 84 percent, or 4.7 million acres, of the state is covered with forests.
"We've still got a lot of land, but every time you take land out of the wood basket, prices rise," he said. "It's good on some level, but we're certainly on the verge of prices being so high that businesses that pay for the raw materials can't make a profit."
Soaring timber prices prompted the State Current Use Board, which reviews market prices for agricultural and forest products to establish land's earning potential, to assess land at a higher rate than last year. The Current Use program reduces taxes for landowners who keep their property undeveloped. About 27,000 landowners are enrolled.
But many property owners agree to lucrative offers from developers despite the program, said Charlie Moreno, a forester consultant in Strafford. He estimated the average size of a wood lot in his area has decreased from 100 to 30 acres over the last 30 years.
A 500-acre block is considered big enough to support significant wildlife habitat, protect water quality and allow some economic forest management, but such blocks are increasingly rare, according to the forest protection society.
The organization is raising $2.4 million to buy the largest block of forestland left in Strafford County, a 2,200-acre area on Moose Mountain between Middleton and Brookfield. The southeastern part of the state has a 15-year "window of opportunity" to conserve land or see it gobbled up by strip malls, roads and single-family housing, said Charles Niebling, the society's vice president for policy and land management.
He said conservationists and the forest industry "absolutely" have found a good balance and long have recognized they share a common interest.
"If you're a private land owner and generate income from sustainable harvesting it's a hedge against development," he said. "It gives you justification for the continued ownership of the land."
The society advocates conservation easements for forestland, an arrangement also supported by the forest products industry. Under the arrangement, landowners are compensated for giving up the development rights of their property but can keep practicing forestry.
About 318,000 acres are protected by conservation easements in the state.
"For farmland and forestland in particular, it's really the only approach," Niebling said.
Pressure to ban any management of the land usually come from out-of-state conservation groups, Stock said. About half the White Mountain National Forest is out of bounds for foresters.
"Our members recognize there are lands you don't touch," he said. "But unless there's compelling reason, we've got a problem with it."
Several towns, including Dover, Lee, Barrington and Exeter, have passed open space bonds for conservation easements and other protective measures.
But Niebling said conservation efforts may lose momentum because the state allocated only $1.5 million over the next two years to the Land and Community Investment Program. The program helps support land conservation and historic preservation.
The program received $12 million in the 2002-2003 state budget.
"When the state takes away the carrot it makes the job harder," Niebling said. "We must work hard to find a balance between growth and conservation. People in the position of influence are in the driver's seat. I think people understand the urgency. Developers are extraordinarily expensive to compete with."
