Innovative Natural Resource Solutions LLC provides consulting services at the intersection of forest industry, energy, and economic development. The future of Maine's forest industry faces challenges from shrinking pulp and paper markets but opportunities from new technologies and markets for wood products including cross laminated timber, wood pellets for heating, and capturing value from recreational use of forestlands. The industry is likely to see some mill closures but also new small and mid-sized facilities innovating at the edges while land ownership diversifies beyond traditional timber production goals.

1. The Future of Forests &
Forest Industry in Maine
Eric Kingsley
Innovative Natural Resource Solutions LLC
Phone 207-233-9910, kingsley@inrsllc.com

2. Innovative Natural Resource Solutions LLC
• Founded in 1994
• Offices in New Hampshire and Maine
• Focus at the intersection of forest industry, energy and economic
development
• Author of Maine Future Forest Economy Project (2005)
• Services include:
- consulting in renewable energy
- advocacy
- forest management and protection
- forest certification and sustainability
• Clients from the private, non-profit and government sectors
• Conducted work in all regions of North America
• www.inrsllc.com

3. Our Continuing Advantage

4. The Wood

5. The Markets

6. http://www.colby.edu/environ/courses/ES493/stateofmaine20
07/papers/SOME07_ResourceAccess.html

7. Markets for Forest Products

8. 0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Sawlogs Pulpwood Biomass
Volume (Tons)
Value ($)
Volume and Value to Landowner of Products from a Timber Harvest
North East State Foresters 2013
All NH, 2010

9. Solid Wood

10. Source: Census (http://www.census.gov/const/www/newresconstindex.html )
Single family starts, Thousand units, SAAR
0
200
400
600
800
1,000
1,200
1,400
1,600
1,800
2,000
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015

12. Source: Census ( https://www.census.gov/construction/chars/sold.html )
1,800
1,900
2,000
2,100
2,200
2,300
2,400
2,500
2,600
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
Median Square feet floor area

13. Cross Laminated Timber
• Pre-fabricated structural
wall, floor and roof
panels
• Key benefits include
• Ability to build mid-rise
(up to ~10 stories)
• Short construction
timeline (at jobsite)
• Cost competitive
• Good seismic
performance

15. Markets for Low-Grade (not sawlogs)

18. Pulp and Paper

20. Emails you never expected…

21. Hardwood Pulpwood Price ($/ton) by Region

22. All figures in 2013 dollars, using the US Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI
Inflation Calculator, http://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm
Stumpage Price for Selected Pulpwood Species, 2004 - 2014
Statewide Average from Maine Forest Service - Stumpage Price Reports
$-
$2.00
$4.00
$6.00
$8.00
$10.00
$12.00
$14.00
$16.00
$18.00
$20.00
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
Mixed Hardwood Spruce / Fir White Pine

23. Pulp and Paper
• Pulp and paper mills remain Maine’s largest consumer of wood
products, and represent significant fixed infrastructure.
• Mills produce a variety of products, including market pulp,
dissolving pulp, communication papers (coated and uncoated),
and tissue. Each of these markets is unique.
• The Northern American paper industry has been shrinking, both in
output and capacity. Individual mills often do well, but new
investment in production is extremely limited in the U.S.
• More turmoil to come, but Maine will remain a paper producing
state for well into the future
• I expect reduced pulpwood consumption, and reduced prices for
pulpwood (a bunch of factors in this one, not just demand).

24. Challenges to the Pulp & Paper Industry
• You will hear
• High taxes
• High energy costs
• High wood costs
• And so on
• There are all very real, and present real challenges to the
industry
• Mills and regions now fighting over a shrinking pie
• They aren’t the fundamental issue, which is change in the
marketplace, and a capital intensive industry that is hard to
change with any reasonable speed

25. Wood for Heating

26. Percent of Homes Using Oil as a Primary Heat Source

28. Wood Pellets for Thermal Use
• Wood pellets used in thermal (heating) applications for homes and
small businesses
• Can be as primary (boiler) or supplemental (stove) heat source in a
home
• Cost competitive with oil (on a BTU basis)
• Maine and Northeast highly dependent upon oil
• At this moment, not true – pellets and oil about the same on a $ per MMBTU
basis
• A primary issue in industry is developing downstream market (boilers,
stoves) and encouraging customer adoption

29. New England
Pellet Mills
Capacity:
60,000 – 110,000 tons
<30,000 tons

31. Wood Pellets Now Seeing Large-Scale Users
Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, Maine

32. Maine’s Forest Industry
• Incredibly diverse
• Well positioned for access to consumers
• Facing challenges and opportunities
• Enjoys broad support as an economic engine
• Will see mill closures, will see new industries
• Massive opportunity for energy products, if we can figure out how to
capture and properly value
• My crystal ball – more small / mid-sized facilities, reduction in large
facilities
• Big, capital-intensive projects are hard everywhere, very hard in Maine

33. Income from Maine Forestland
• Are TIMOs and REITs getting the return they need on their
investment?
• Currently working on this, I’m not sure what the answer is
• If NO, who are the new buyers…and what are their objectives?
• Family offices, high-net worth individuals, conservation buyers…
• Forest products income is important, but can’t be all there is…
• $ from recreational use
• Carbon sequestration
• Ecosystem services (maybe a pipe dream)
• Energy leases (e.g., wind)
• Some of this will challenge and disrupt tradition – for land users, for rural
towns, for the industry, for the landowner

34. My Crystal Ball (which can be very cloudy)
•A forest industry that is:
•A little smaller
•Working hard to hold on
•New opportunities for small and mid-scale
businesses
•Innovating at the edges, and experiencing
failures as part of the process

35. My Crystal Ball (which can be very cloudy)
•Land ownership that:
•Has more families – individuals in the ownership
group
•Gets very creative about capturing economic value
from non-timber activities
•Continues to see conservation buyers – who the
industry often views as “undisciplined”
•Views the proximate population as an asset – and
monetizes it

36. My Crystal Ball (which can be very cloudy)
•A public that:
•Believes that the industry is dying
•Wants to support the industry that remains
•Views private land as something they have a right
to access
•Thinks that landowners should be incredibly
generous and provide lots of services for free

37. My Crystal Ball (which can be very cloudy)
•A government that
•Is reactive
•Has a better rear view mirror than windshield
•Would invent a time machine if it could
•Is focused on protecting a mill or a sector, instead
of industry health
•There is nothing unique to Maine about this – this is
how the world works (“the future” is a very
nebulous constituency)

38. About My Woods

39. Eric Kingsley
Innovative Natural Resource Solutions LLC
Phone 207-233-9910
Email kingsley@inrsllc.com
www.AboutMyWoods.org