V For America's Forests Facts From the U.S. Deparment of Agriculture Forest Service j We Want Wood When most people think of energy from wood, they probably think of logs burning burn-ing on an open hearth or maybe in an iron stove. Few know that wood and bark provide all or part of the fuel requirements for some dozen utility plants in the U.S. That number may grow. However, the experts at the U.S. Forest Service warn that wood may soon become be-come too precious to burn. Demands for lumber and paneling products are expected ex-pected to rise substantially in the next 50 years. Largest increases are forecast fore-cast in lumber for shipping and residential construction with similar growths in products for manufacturing. Lumber consumption in the mid-'70s was about ten percent above the volume of the two previous decades. However, plywood usage doubled in the same period and that figure is likely to continue to rise at the same rate in the next five decades. de-cades. Total demand for paper, cardboard and building boards is projected to rise to a mind-boggling 123 million tons by the turn of the century. The consumption of wood for fuel in 1976 was estimated esti-mated at nearly a billion and a ' half cubic feet. Another ten million tons of bark went for fuel in the same year. With the energy crisis, these figures have continued to rise dramatically dramati-cally and, at current rates, residential use of wood fuel could be about two billion cubic feet 50 years from now. This is equivalent to a football field piled nearly 8'2 miles high with wood. It is conceivable that major alternative fuel sources may become sufficiently developed devel-oped to reverse the trend towards heating homes with wood, but this is presently an unknown. In any case, our needs for timber and wood products are going to continue to grow. With proper management manage-ment of our forests and more efficient use of forest resources, we should be able to meet those needs. Continuing on our present course, however, (JAI can lead to h A trouble.