They know that the demand for wood products will not abate and contrived shortages increase profits. In the meantime, the guys down in marketing are finding other ways to capitalize on environmentalist propaganda. The timber industry is now promoting something called sustain-able forestry, whatever that means. None of this analysis is meant to disparage the timber industry in any manner. The exact same thing is happening in mining, oil and gas, you name it.
American industry has an absolute genius for turning lemons into lemonade.
But remember this the next time you see Al Gore shedding crocodile tears about how urban sprawl is taking valuable real estate from small farmers. Because the next day Al will be introducing a clean water initiative aimed at farm run-off or a new ban on pesticides. When these increased costs of doing business hit struggling small farmers they are history. Every time the environmental bar is raised in an industry the smaller operators get squeezed out. Big outfits like the car companies in Detroit, however, are resilient enough to even turn a profit from new technological demands.