Small timber inventory information: is it adequate for utilization planning?

Despite expressed interest and extensive small-timber supplies, little industrial development based on softwood timber less than 7.0 inches in diameter has occurred in the Northern Rocky Mountains. Numerous factors, including sparse road access, harvesting constraints, high logging costs, distance to primary markets, and limited rail service restrict small-timber utilization. Prospective small-timber users also indicate that utilization planning is hampered by inadequate inventory data. A survey of inventory systems of major forest ownerships in Montana and Idaho, which found deficiencies in most inventories relative to small timber, supports this contention. For example, most organizations either do not have stand-level small timber inventory data in their computerized databases, or only have data for a small portion of their ownership. Of the three kinds of raw material information needed for utilization planning, two (location and availability) can usually be determined only through personal inquiry at the field office level, while the third (physical characteristics such as stems per acre by diameter class, condition, and defect) must usually be developed by the prospective user as needed. Recommendations are provided in this paper to improve inventory information content and accessibility.

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