May 20, 2005. /Lesprom Network/. Harvesting by California's forestry industry increased by 2.5% in 2004 while the value of the harvests jumped by nearly 12%, the California Forest Products Commission reported today in its second annual report on the state of the industry. Despite the increase, California continues to import more than 70% of the wood used in the state - with much of that wood coming from countries with fewer environmental protections for wood harvesting. "People recognize California grown wood as being both high quality and grown in an environmentally responsible way," said Donn Zea, president of the California Forest Products Commission. "While the slight growth in harvesting is a positive sign for the industry, foresters managing lands in California continue to face significant challenges in managing our forests and their businesses." "Growers in California face increasing and duplicative regulatory hurdles that increase the cost of doing business, while being forced to compete in a global marketplace where costs are lower and regulations are fewer," Zea said. According to statistics compiled by the California Board of Equalization, 1.7 billion board feet were harvested in California in 2004, up from 1.66 billion board feet harvested in 2003. The amount harvested is less than one-third of the estimated 6 billion to 7 billion board feet that grows in forests in California each year. At the same time, forestry companies planted an estimated 30 million seedlings - or an average of seven seedlings for every tree harvested. "California continues to import vast amounts of wood each year, despite the abundant forests here in our own state," Zea said. "As wood is imported, jobs are exported and resources are wasted to transport wood from faraway places. In the end, forests in other countries where there is little or no environmental protection are harmed." While there was a slight increase in harvesting, it falls far below historic harvesting averages. In 1994, for example, 2.3 billion board feet were harvested. The value of the harvests was more than 0 million, up from nearly 8 million in 2003, according to the Board of Equalization. The overall increase in harvesting in the state came despite a decline in harvesting on government-owned lands, which decreased from 154 million board feet in 2003 to 113 million board feet in 2004. "Appeals and legal challenges slow needed harvests on publicly owned lands," Mr. Zea said. "Many of our publicly owned forestlands are overgrown, unhealthy and in danger of fueling catastrophic wildfires. Rather than protecting these lands, these legal challenges prevent the Forest Service from doing the work it needs to do to improve the health of the forests." On privately owned lands, two recent studies by forestry professors at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo show that California's regulations - intended to protect the environment - are instead pushing privately owned forestland toward development. "California is making it tougher and tougher for forestland owners to manage their land to succeed as a business," Mr. Zea said. "The choice is simple: do we encourage sustainable forestry that will allow us to keep our forestland or do we drive families out of the business and convert forestlands to other uses?"