The prices of good boards are at an all-time high. The E.P.A. is shutting down the mills that make plywood. The timber companies have less old growth forest to choose from. Most of the affordable timber is being cut from new-growth pine. In the Midwest, the standard 2x4 is made primarily from spruce.
Boards made from cherry, oak, or poplar are expensive.
The easy solution to this lumber crisis is for the woodworker to make his own boards from the trees of his choosing. There are many methods for making boards from trees. Most of them require costly equipment or contracting out the work. The portable sawmills that will make boards in the back yard cost several thousand dollars. If the back-yard woodsman chooses to cut down his own trees and send them off to the mill, transporting the trees to the mill and bringing the finished boards back home is expensive.