Pine - The Wood Providing For Today and the Future

There are many ways to judge the ongoing sustainability of our resources but one way might be to define it as what can be used today that can be regenerated and is available for the next generation.
 If that is the premise we start with then wood may be our only sustainable resource and of all of the species of trees to consider pine is then our most sustainable resource on the planet.
 Look at the life expectancy of various trees and you'll probably come to the same conclusion.
 At the same time remember that life expectancy is not the same as growth to use.
 With this in mind the pine tree and its various species really becomes a resource for the green conscious person to use.
  Consider the oak tree.
 Depending on the species and where it is growing it can live four hundred years.
 The white pine, by contrast, has a life expectancy of only one hundred years and the Austrian pine only fifty.
 These are life expectancies, not growth to the point where they can be used for furniture.
 This is a much shorter time period, particularly for pine.
 So if a pine forest is re-planted as one is being cut it is not unusual for the same land to be re-cut within a human generation.
 The ability to cut a hardwood forest once it is planted takes decades longer.
  This adds to the second part of the sustainability issue; that of economics.
 A hardwood forest has a value beyond that of the price for the lumber that it holds.
 There is an aesthetic appeal that is hard to put a value on plus the use it holds for recreation and relaxation.
 These intangible aspects drive an emotional appeal that is hard to monetize.
   Once cut the hardwood forest's visual and aesthetic appeal is lost for a very long time.
 The pine stand has a beauty all of its own but can be regenerated very quickly and, to be quite frank, doesn't hold the same aesthetic or recreational value as does a stand of hardwood.