The Dangerous Economist: Life is full of tradeoffs: If we want more Steinway pianos do we have to give up some trees in Alaska?

See The Alaskan Logging Fight Threatening Steinway’s Iconic Pianos: Viking Lumber, the piano maker’s lone source of Sitka spruce, says it is running out of wood because of a lack of logging in the Tongass National Forest by Ryan Dezember of The WSJ. Excerpts:

"The Agriculture Department has begun the process of rescinding its “roadless rule,” which blocks road building or reconstruction on roughly 59 million federal acres and has impeded logging. Meanwhile, regional Forest Service supervisors have been told to develop five-year plans to contribute to a 25% increase in the overall timber harvest on federal land."
"Wood from old-growth forests is often the most sought after, yet ancient trees are also typically the foundations of pristine and finely tuned ecosystems."
"Tribal groups, fishing interests and environmental groups have intervened in the case in opposition to large-scale logging of old-growth forests."

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