Authors: |
Charles R. Blinn, Stephanie A. Snyder, Matthew B. Russell, Rachel R. Peterson |
Year: |
2019 |
Type: |
Miscellaneous |
Station: |
Northern Research Station |
Source: |
Staff Paper #251. St. Paul, MN: University of Minnesota, Department of Forest Resources. 105 p. |
Abstract
A mail survey was conducted in 2017 to assess the status of Minnesota's logging sector during 2016. Minnesota's logging businesses continue to be characterized by a disparity between business size and percentage of total annual production volume. A small percentage of the businesses were classified as harvesting greater than 15,000 cords annually. However, those businesses produced a high percentage of the total harvest volume. Conversely, a large percentage of the businesses were classified as harvesting fewer than 5,000 cords annually, but produced a low percent of total reported volume harvested. The median production level, 4,000 cords annually, is unchanged from the 2011 and 2003 surveys. Businesses which reported producing 10,001 to 15,000 cords compared in a disadvantageous way to one or both of the adjacent volume categories (i.e., 5,001-10,000 and more than 15,000 cords) for a number of factors. The average age of businesses continues to age and a third of the owners are more than 60 years old. The feller-buncher is still the most commonly reported method of felling timber in the state. As the level of production increases, equipment age decreases. While respondents tended to be more positive about their performance in 2016 than was reported in the 2011 survey, they didn’t identify any factors which would encourage others to join the logging profession.
Citation
Blinn, Charles R.; Snyder, Stephanie A.; Russell, Matthew B.; Peterson, Rachel R. 2019. Status of the Minnesota logging sector in 2016. Staff Paper #251. St. Paul, MN: University of Minnesota, Department of Forest Resources. 105 p. https://www.forestry.umn.edu/sites/forestry.umn.edu/files/mn_2016_logging_staff_paper_final_feb_2019.pdf .