Trees...Trees... and more trees!

     We've drove throughout this country and have seen many a forest of tall trees, pine trees, big trees, huge trees like the redwoods or sequoia.  We've seen miles and miles of trees where we never knew trees to have grown in numbers like we've seen.  Logging trucks in the north, logging trucks in south and southeast and for sure in the northwest where we're at today.  These all are used for the usual like building wood, paper, cardboard, and the scrapes being used now days in plywood type products and pressed boards.  I never gave it a thought that trees would be something we would "export" until I visited Coos Bay, Oregon and this part of the Oregon coast.
    We see down the street piles and piles of wood chips, not only piles but mounds and mounds of chips of wood.  Then a little ways down from the mounds of chips are stacks and stacks of rough cleaned logs 30, 40, 50 feet long logs stacked 10 - 20 feet high and higher.  Then you see ships, big ships that don't look like they fit in this little bay that looks too narrow but has been dredged to depths of 40 feet and more in the middle.
     Now I hear on the local news that the ship docked along side of the docks near the wood chips is on it's maiden voyage from Japan and it's here to be loaded with wood chips!  Yes, it will take 4 days to load this big ships haul with wood chips!  What the heck is Japan going to do with ships full of wood chips?  You ask the questions and find the answers which is Japan takes these chips and make all sorts of paper products, cardboard products etc.  I guess when all your trees are "bonsai" trees they may be too small to make a small fire let alone paper products for a nation like Japan.......LOL.
     Now you look the other direction and see all those trucks and truck loads of logs long rough cleaned logs stack high and find out what's going on with those.............making more chips?  No, all those are awaiting the arrival of ships from China, yes China who has had to clear forest for people!
     All in all we learned a lot about Coos Bay and this tiny bay and how these huge ships get in and out with "pilots" since the narrow inlets need experienced pilots to take over the the ship captains and get the ships to the dock in and out of the Bay with the help of tugs to turn them around.  Amazing stuff learned here in Oregon.