What Have We Learned From The sawmill Improvement Program After Nine Years

The Sawmill Improvement Program, better known as SIP, was launched in July of 1973 to help extend the Nation’s timber resources through more efficient sawmilling of logs. Administered by the U.S. Forest Service, the SIP increases a log’s breakdown efficiency and thereby helps sawmillers to recover more of their lumber. This means that more of the log resource becomes high-value lumber and less becomes lower-value products such as sawdust and chips. While it’s true that most of the fiber content of the logs going into our sawmills is used in one way or another, usually less than half of the fiber content becomes dressed lumber. Since it’s not uncommon for logs to represent up to 80% or more of the cost of the lumber on the green chain, mill owners can ill afford to convert less than 50% of the log into dressed lumber. Today, technology has made it possible to convert 70% or more of the log into dressed lumber, thus minimizing the remaining low-value products. The Sawmill Improvement Program helps mills to increase their conversion efficiency and thereby conserve the resource. An adequate timber supply that is wisely and prudently used is critically important to the economic welfare of the Nation. With current levels of forest management, timber supplies are already beginning to fall short of projected demands in some areas. Our Nation does not have unlimited forest resources on unlimited acres of land. At the current level of land conversion activity, it is estimated that approximately five million acres of forestbase land is lost to nonforest use per decade. As this happens, it becomes clear that (1) more and better timber must be grown on fewer acres and (2) we must continue total utilization of the forest resource. This may mean using the entire wood fiber content of the tree, including the roots which has already been proven feasible. More complete utilization of the fiber content of the tree is the primary goal of the tightening-up procedures and the application of current technology in the SIP program. In the early 70’s. approximately 160 cubic feet of logs were required, on the average, to produce 1,000 board Mr. Lunstrum is a national sawmill specialist with the U. S. Forest Products Laboratory of Madison, Wisconsin.