What I would like to see are harvested forest areas set aside for slow growing hardwoods. Right now, most of our forests are managed with the idea of growing fast growing trees (softwood) for frequent harvest.
However, if even a fraction of our managed forest land was instead used for growing hardwoods, such as cherry, it would still be 50 or 100 years before they would be ready for harvest. Yet when that time came, America would again have its prized furniture, as stylish as any ever made.
Today, there is almost no “new” hardwood furniture around, and people have to be satisfied with buying increasingly expensive antique furniture.
Most of the hardwoods grown today are grown for their fruits and nuts. The older trees are replaced with younger ones that give more fruit, long before they would be good for lumber.
If we planted hardwood forests now, by the time master craftsmen could make them into fine furniture, even a small desk could be worth as much as a luxury car. America would have a near world monopoly in the finest wood furniture.
Such forests are also uniquely pleasurable to visit, as well, very different in character from pine, as well as having different flora and fauna.
My parents own acreage that was originally planted with pine by the CCC during the Depression. Some years ago, they had every third row cut down by a timber company (made a nice chunk of change) and the property is now in the process of growing hardwoods in the cleared spaces. My children and so on will get to enjoy a much changed and beautiful hardwood forest some day.
Most Americans are content to buy a bookcase made of pressed wood and covered with paper veneer for $49.95 at Office Max. When it collapses six months later, go to Wal-Mart and buy one made of pressed newspapers and painted black for $39.95.
The days of Americans buying quality furniture made of cherry, walnut and quarter-sawn oak are long past, unless it can be bought for $49.95.