Effect of the hardwood resource on the sawmill industry in the central and Appalachian regions

The Central and Appalachian hardwood regions contain a diverse and valuable timber resource. The regions are important to the hardwood industry because they contain 68 percent of the eastern hardwood sawtimber. Furthermore, more than 70 percent of the hardwood lumber produced in the United States is manufactured at mills located in 16 of the states in the regions. This paper examines the hardwood sawmill industry and its relationship to the hardwood resource in the Central and Appalachian Regions. The major conclusion is that there is considerable regional variation in the size and concentration of the sawmill industry. This variation is affected by the differences in the volume and density of the hardwood resource in different states in the regions.