Where does all the paper come from ??

[tramp bushler]

Anyone know where all the pulp that makes paper comes from .... One poster from Georgia was talking about how their timber industry was in bad shape and that got me to thinking ..... Since we use as much or more pap
er as we did before computers , WHERE DOES IT ALL COME FROM ????????
.
. Like newsprint . and computer paper ???

 

[johnzski]

Ther is a local paper mill with new owners that seems to be doing well.they are building a biomass plant that will produce jet fuel and bio-diesel. the leftovers will be used for pulp for the paper mill;should help the loggers around here.they take only white birch; prices on other hardwoods are not so good but you can sell some where last year it was better as firewood

 

[clinchscavalry]

This amazed me, that the US is second only to Japan in chip imports.

The U.S. ranks 2nd in wood chip imports
Posted 1 September 2009
Filed under: Environment and Natural Resources, Ranking of 2 | Tags: imports, Japan, wood chips |

According to the International Trade Centre, in 2005 the United States imported $156,590,000 worth of “wood in chips or particles and wood waste.” That was enough to make the United States rank second in that category. Japan ranked first, importing $2,056,458,000, more than ten times as much.

And we have massive piles of tops and debris rotting on log decks

 

[Grace Tree]

Small Wood News . com

smallwood news
I stumbled onto this awhile back. It's no connection to me but someone sent it to me because of the name. Kind of interesting to watch which way the investment and government money is flowing. I don't know if any of the info is worth a darn; could be mostly pr spin from companies but I'm sure there is some good info buried in there somewhere.
Phil

 

[slowp]

I'm no expert but you can't make GOOD paper out of just anything. The paper mill in AZ yup, there was a papermill out in the PJ, went to 100% recycle. They took in all the recycled paper. That wrecked the local pulp market which was the small Pinus Monotomus trees.

The Wisconsin/Minnysota mills liked paper birch and popple. They were not happy when the fire guys started doing underburns. Paper mills don't like charred wood.

There's a chipping place down the road which takes cottonwood and other logs. Then they ship it somewhere. Rumor has it that you can just throw your chunks of wood in a dumptruck or what you have and get paid for your wood.

That's all I know.

 

[PB]

This amazed me, that the US is second only to Japan in chip imports.




And we have massive piles of tops and debris rotting on log decks

The chips probably come from Canada, lots of paper mills close to the border. Lots of mills up here in ME, sure some of the chips come from NB and QB(?). Lots of information in the paper about the industry, most mills here are specialty papers like labels, etc. Papers report a large proportion of imported paper as our manufacturing jobs went to China and other Asian countries.

I would guess that we are actually using less paper than before now that people use email. I only print out journal articles, all my bills are paperless, and just don't buy a lot of paper.

 

[bitzer]

North of me in Wausau, WI and surrounding areas there are several paper mills. They manage some 90,000 acres in Northern Wi. They also own a mill in Brainerd, MN. I am not sure what they all take as far as species, but I know a lot of White and Red Pine go up there from down south by me. In the north there is a good mix of softwood and hardwood, but I am not really sure what they would be taking.

 

[Uncle John]

Mead Paper and others own hundreds of thousands of acres ( maybe millions)in Michigan U.P.

 

[tramp bushler]

When I was a kid in Maine we sold pulp to the mill in Orono and Millinocket .. We sold Poplar and Bamagilliad for 19$ a cord delivered ..... 4' wood ...Do you have any idea heavy Bam is . it,s pretty much the same thing as cotton wood . Full of water !!!! .. Anyway .. You should never go peperless on the statements or bill pay ... Never .........
. When the 2 pulp mills closed in Southeast no doubt Japans chip imports had to increase.... The western hemlock and Sitka spruce chips were primarily for rayon fabric ,plastics , food additives , and some paper ..........
.
.
. I,m not too convinced this yum yarding is a good thing .....Trees eat trees .. If you take all the cull out of the forest .there won,t be enough food for the up coming forest .. I think the tops should be left in the brush ......

 

[PB]

When I was a kid in Maine we sold pulp to the mill in Orono and Millinocket ..

....Trees eat trees .. If you take all the cull out of the forest .there won,t be enough food for the up coming forest .. I think the tops should be left in the brush ......

No mill in Orono, just up the road in Old Town. I think the mill in Millinocket shut down, but can't say for sure. I know they have a recycling facility up there now. Bad area of Maine, houses for 20-30K but no where to work. The Old Town mill was shut down for a while, but the new owners have it up and running. They are making paper now, but will be adding biofuels to their production in the future.

Ummm......trees don't eat anything. Trees make food from sunlight, not the soil.

(I'm not going to buy/obtain a product just to throw it away, thus paperless)

 

[tramp bushler]

.... Uhm . Sorry , but trees do eat trees .... Maybe it is an area thing ..... Thats what makes stooled up old growth timber ... A seedling starts growing on a blowdown or snag stob and its roots keep climbing down as what it,s growing on gets gobbled up ... So hundreds of years after it started growing we need to spring board up to get where the roots turn into a log so we can fall the tree ...........
. If trees only eat sunlight , why does Werhouser ect.ect. fertilize seedlings that get planted ....
..
..I guess the mill was in Old Town . But we did sell wood @ Orono . , Maybe it was a rail siding there . There were a few of them we sold at .....Fir and spruce pulp ...

 

[PB]

.... Uhm . Sorry , but trees do eat trees .... Maybe it is an area thing ..... Thats what makes stooled up old growth timber ... A seedling starts growing on a blowdown or snag stob and its roots keep climbing down as what it,s growing on gets gobbled up ... So hundreds of years after it started growing we need to spring board up to get where the roots turn into a log so we can fall the tree ...........
. If trees only eat sunlight , why does Werhouser ect.ect. fertilize seedlings that get planted ....
..
..I guess the mill was in Old Town . But we did sell wood @ Orono . , Maybe it was a rail siding there . There were a few of them we sold at .....Fir and spruce pulp ...

Okay, just don't know what to say to that other than read some plant biology books. Trees are autotrophic, that means they MAKE their own food through photosynthesis. Plants take up nutrients, but it isn't "food". No need to fertilize trees, they will grow but just at a slower rate (maybe). Fertilizer is used to get the trees started, you don't see them out there fertilizing every week.

 

[Meadow Beaver]

Last time I knew atleast on the East coast here was that alot of the paper mills chips come from South America.

 

[LarryTheCableGuy]

What I noticed here in Central Oregon was that the truckloads of short fat logs (doubles) go south on Hwy. 97 and the truckloads of long skinny pecker poles (singles) head north on Hwy. 97.

I was guessing that the skinny ones were going to pulp, but I'm wrong, ain't I?

.

 

[Meadow Beaver]

Probably, there's some big pulp mills up by Portland.

 

[tramp bushler]

Okay, just don't know what to say to that other than read some plant biology books. Trees are autotrophic, that means they MAKE their own food through photosynthesis. Plants take up nutrients, but it isn't "food". No need to fertilize trees, they will grow but just at a slower rate (maybe). Fertilizer is used to get the trees started, you don't see them out there fertilizing every week.

.

.

. I would think the { take up nutrients } would be pretty close to eating ......
. Sorry , I,m not trying to be a prick .. If you were on the coast out here you would see what I,m talking about ...... Thats why trees don,t grow on flat bare rocks ... They gotta eat .....
. South American Chips .... ??????????

 

[Meadow Beaver]

Yeah paper mills in our area get chips cheaper from South America than here in our hardwood forests. The trees there also grow back faster than here so their forests are more sustainable for pulpwood than ours.

 

[PB]

.

.

. I would think the { take up nutrients } would be pretty close to eating ......
. Sorry , I,m not trying to be a prick .. If you were on the coast out here you would see what I,m talking about ...... Thats why trees don,t grow on flat bare rocks ... They gotta eat .....
. South American Chips .... ??????????

You are talking about nurse logs, I know exactly what they are. The trees aren't "eating" anything, they don't break down the dead log or take nutrients from it. Plant a seed on a freshly fallen log and see if it grows. They simply take up nutrients that have been released by the fungi/bacteria that eat the tree. Fungi and bacteria actually eat the tree, not trees themselves. After the fungi is done decaying, all that is left is soil full of nutrients.

I actually think Maine is exporting a lot of chips to Canadia. The Canadian government is giving money to the mills, so they are still producing.

 

[olyman]

This amazed me, that the US is second only to Japan in chip imports.




And we have massive piles of tops and debris rotting on log decks

and loggers by the tons out of business--gotta love the gov and tree huggers!!!!!!!!!:censored::censored:

 

[hammerlogging]

.
I would think the { take up nutrients } would be pretty close to eating ......
. Sorry , I,m not trying to be a prick .. If you were on the coast out here you would see what I,m talking about ...... Thats why trees don,t grow on flat bare rocks ... They gotta eat .....
. South American Chips .... ??????????

Thats not being a prick, thats common sense. Plants neeed both- photosynthesis provides non-mineral nutrients and the soil (or substitute) provides mineral nutrients, all these nutrients TOGETHER allow for cell growth and function. Can't give a plant just sun and expect it to grow, it needs more than just light.

The nutrient cycle is that growth, breakdown, decay, uptake process. Ya'll, this is 4th grade science class, PlantBiologist, you've got to know this. Glad I can still manage to be pro faller despite my education..... Stem harvesting is mostly carbon, which is abundantly available. on the other hand, harvesting tops, slash, god forbid forest floor duff for biofuel, thats where all the valuable stuff is. I bet we can get away with removing a little from the system, but too much and we will see effects beyond decreased productivity, i.e. reduced vitality reducing pest and disease resistance, overall vitality.

There is a massive paper industry in the pine belt in the SE US. We produce hardwood and soft hardwood pulp for certain products like paperboard packaging.

My guess is that we are about 50/50 between what we produce ourselves and what we import. I'm sure we also export at times. It is definately a global economy, for better or for worse.

Damn I was on some tough ground Friday. I'm above it now.