A network analysis to identify forest merchantability limitations across the United States

Large-scale silvicultural programs designed to alter forest characteristics to accomplish either financial or ecological goals often involve the extraction of significant volumes. The operational costs, and thus extend over which these programs can be applied, depend in large part on supply chain considerations and the degree to which removals can be merchandized. Forestry supply chain considerations include the spatial allocation of forest products processing facilities, the array of primary forest commodities they consume, and the transportation infrastructure. This study conducts a network analysis utilizing the location of 2543 primary forest product producers in the contiguous United States along with a national road dataset to evaluate hotspots where a better opportunity to merchandise forest products enables flexibility in forest management, and coldspots where alternatives are limited. This study establishes service areas of processing facilities for sawlogs, pulpwood, and biomass at varying haul-times and two scenarios as a function of transportation costs and constructs a Cumulative Merchantability Index (CMI) by summing the Merchantability Index values defining the current market extent. In the Short Haul scenario, 26% (61.71 million hectares) and the Long Haul scenario, 9% (21.32 million hectares) of the forests have low merchantability for all three commodities. Only 3% of forests in Short Haul and 20% forests in the Long Haul scenario have an opportunity to market all three forest commodities. Results are helpful in prioritizing differing management objectives by evaluating the potential cost saving afforded by selling forest commodities.