Re[2]: [at-l] Maine land buyout

[Bob Cummings <ellen@clinic.net> (Bob Cummings)]

"...why? why the change? (in the management of Maine's forest) Kahley asks.

I'm not privy to the discussions of the managers of the paper industry. But the value of industrial
stocks has soared in recent years. Prices have increased at a rate of 20 per cent or more a year. For
companies in the paper industry, whose stocks lagged in this rise, the pressure must have been enormous
for managers to increase short term profits, and thus generate similar increases in their company
stock prices.

 I suspect bonuses, promotions and valuable stock options went to the manager who increased profits for the short term by
 liquidating the forest, rather than the manager who aimed for a sustainable supply of raw materials
 for their mills  three decades from now when the manager most likely would have retired or moved on
 to higher jobs.

 You can cut a lot of wood quickly without impacting the immediate supply of raw materials needed by
 a mill. The standing timber at the beginning of the over cutting was enough to supply the
 industry for a century. Now it's down to 30 years or so. The average size of trees in the Maine
 commercial forest has shrunk from 12 or 15 inches in diameter to five or six inches, according to an
 inventory done a few years ago.

 I think most of us learned in about the second grade that if you keep subtracting more than you add,
 sooner or later you will end up with nothing.

 These are all multi-national companies. Most have forests in a dozen states and many foreign
 countries. Surely, the aim is to produce the fiber needed for their products as cheaply as possible.
 That may have meant clearcut Maine this decade, then close Maine mills, and move production to
 Arkansas, Florida, Thailand, where ever. Such a tactic is especially easy in Maine with its 3,000
 lakes and miles of wild rivers -- all easily sold waterfront for summer homes and wealthy estates.

 At least, this makes more sense to me than speculation that a Green candidate for governor, who
 managed 5 percent of the vote, somehow scared them away.

 Weary