County's timber harvest declines

Timber harvests in Nevada County fell nearly 24 percent last year - much steeper than the 5 percent decline statewide, according to an industry group.

The county's timber harvest fell to 27.8 million board feet last year, compared with 36.4 million board feet in 2005, according to the California Forest Products Commission.

For all of California, timber harvests fell to 1.6 billion board feet last year, down from 1.7 billion board feet the previous year.

"The 5.4-percent (statewide) decline was largely due to less harvesting on government-owned lands in California, and put the state far behind other states, such as Washington and Oregon, in meeting the wood needs of its residents," the commission said in a statement.

Neighboring Oregon and Washington harvested far more trees than California and more than met the wood products needs of their residents, producing more than 3.5 billion board feet of lumber in each state alone.

California has about 40 million acres of forestland, the commission said.

By contrast, Oregon - with 28.8 million acres - harvested 3.5 billion board feet. Washington, with 23 million acres of forestland, also harvested about 3.5 billion board feet.

California's harvests about 20 percent of the demand of state consumers, according to President Donn Zea.

Information about forestry and timber production can be found at the California Forest Products Commission Web site, www.calforests.org.