Pulpwood Production Costs on Small Operations in the Upper Connecticut River Valley

Abstract The upper Connecticut River Valley is essentially a forested region. Farming, particularly dairying, is important, but tilled land is largely restricted to the valleys and lower slopes, and on the average farm more than half the area supports some type of forest growth. Of these farm woodlands, the most important are even-aged red and white spruce and balsam fir stands, originating either on old fields and pastures, or following logging and pulpwood operations. Farmers in this section obtain an average of 300 in cash annually for pulpwood, this amount being exceeded only by their returns from dairy products. In addition to being of major importance in the local agricultural economy, farm woodlands in this region play an important part in supplementing the supply of raw material for the large mills in the vicinity which obtain most of their pulpwood from the less accessible wild lands of New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine, as well as by import from Canada.