Economists have more difficulty predicting supply, forest health and growth, and price relationships. Under pressure from the public and the Forest Service, the industry has been developing harvesting machines that reduces erosion and fishery damage. Watch the boreal forests of Canade for a machine that can cross tundra and permafrost. Watch for increased helicopter logging. New access and harvesting technology must be tamed, or watch it go wild.
Wood rot and termites increasingly advertise their superiority.
The scale of need and what materials they will utilize are unknown. America, like Japan, is a wood-loving nation, and the market may boom after 2000. Protected forests, including national parks, could become sources of timber. When the world is so uncertain, wood dealers and speculators think very short-term. Non-sustainable harvests tend to parallel uncertainty.