TIMBER AVAILABILITY ON NONFEDERAL LAND IN WESTERN WASHINGTON - IMPLICATIONS BASED ON PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE TIMBERLAND BASE

The timberland area under non-federal ownership in western Washington is characterized by ground slope class, elevation, timber size, age, s ilvicultural treatment opportunities, and ownership. Non-industrial pr ivate forest (NIPF) timberland is generally located on gentler slopes and lower elevations than are all other ownerships, implying a potenti al advantage in logging and transportation costs. Opportunities to inc rease growth on NIPF land are mainly through clearcutting and stand co nversion. Timber on forest industry lands has a significantly younger age-class distribution than timber on land that is owned by NIPF lando wners and the Department of Natural Resources in the state of Washingt on; this is a reflection of the higher management intensity being impl emented by forest industry. Opportunity to increase growth rates on fo rest industry timberland is mainly by precommercial thinning. And the distribution of NIPF and forest industry harvests has historically bee n concentrated more in the lower slope classes than the corresponding timberland base. The physical characteristics of the timberland base i n western Washington, along with landowner behavior patterns, may affe ct future non-federal timber supplies by influencing management regime s, access to timberland, and owners' responses to urban pressures. Alt hough NIPF timberland owners may have a cost advantage with respect to the physical characteristics of the timberland base, they may be high ly susceptible to a loss in timberland area from regulatory and land-u se pressures. As a result, future timber supply prospects may decrease even further than recent projections suggest.