I can’t speak to the construction value of wood species that grow in the Amazon, aside from it being home to some species that are prized for high-end uses but are most definitely not sustainable or even economical to harvest at the scale needed for construction anyway.
But North America is covered with temperate forests loaded with a mix of hardwood and softwood, and boreal forest above that that are predominantly softwood. The hardwood species available have really good structural and furniture making properties while growing relatively fast (for large hardwoods). Most (virtually all) of the construction lumber is softwood, which grows very fast. It has no value for furniture nor is great for large beams and such, but it’s quite suitable for plywood, studs, and leftovers that make good structural sheet goods, paper products, etc. It also gets used as a substrate for hardwood veneers, stretching the dearer hardwood way farther.
What’s more, harvesting softwood is super easy. The ground is mostly firm and relatively flat, so large machinery can just roll in and start yoinking trunks, which are also pretty straight and tall. It’s relatively trivial to pile them onto a truck for transport to the nearest sawmill. The only processing done in-situ is stripping the branches which don’t make up much of the material – I don’t know if the branches are even collected for byproduct inputs.
Boreal and temperate forests can replace sustainably harvested softwood in as little as 30 years. Even shitty clear cutting methods are ready for the next clear cut in 50 years if seedlings are actively planted. That’s how a company like Irving can lay waste to the countryside and then brag about what great environmentalists they are because they plant so many trees. 🙄
I can’t speak to the construction value of wood species that grow in the Amazon, aside from it being home to some species that are prized for high-end uses but are most definitely not sustainable or even economical to harvest at the scale needed for construction anyway.
But North America is covered with temperate forests loaded with a mix of hardwood and softwood, and boreal forest above that that are predominantly softwood. The hardwood species available have really good structural and furniture making properties while growing relatively fast (for large hardwoods). Most (virtually all) of the construction lumber is softwood, which grows very fast. It has no value for furniture nor is great for large beams and such, but it’s quite suitable for plywood, studs, and leftovers that make good structural sheet goods, paper products, etc. It also gets used as a substrate for hardwood veneers, stretching the dearer hardwood way farther.
What’s more, harvesting softwood is super easy. The ground is mostly firm and relatively flat, so large machinery can just roll in and start yoinking trunks, which are also pretty straight and tall. It’s relatively trivial to pile them onto a truck for transport to the nearest sawmill. The only processing done in-situ is stripping the branches which don’t make up much of the material – I don’t know if the branches are even collected for byproduct inputs.
Boreal and temperate forests can replace sustainably harvested softwood in as little as 30 years. Even shitty clear cutting methods are ready for the next clear cut in 50 years if seedlings are actively planted. That’s how a company like Irving can lay waste to the countryside and then brag about what great environmentalists they are because they plant so many trees. 🙄