Geography · Ch 5 — Secondary Activities
(d) Forest based Raw Material using Industries
(d) Forest based Raw Material using Industries
Forests supply a wide range of raw materials, both major and minor, that feed several industries. This section focuses on industries that depend directly on forest-based raw materials — not on agricultural or mineral inputs.
The textbook identifies three key forest-based industries:
- Furniture industry — uses timber as its primary raw material. Timber is a major forest product, obtained from large trees.
- Paper industry — uses wood, bamboo, and grass as raw materials. These are all fibrous plant materials that can be pulped to make paper.
- Lac industry — uses lac, a minor forest product. Lac is a resinous secretion of the lac insect, collected from host trees in forests.
The textbook distinguishes between major forest products (like timber) and minor forest products (like lac). Both categories are important raw materials for different industries. …
This black-and-white photograph shows a pulp mill built directly on the waterfront in Ketchikan, Alaska — a town located deep inside a coastal timber region. The mill is the central subject, and the image is composed to show how the industry is physically embedded in its resource environment.
In the foreground, the water is covered with cut logs floating in loose clusters. These logs are the raw material, brought here by water because rivers and coastal inlets are the cheapest way to transport heavy timber in such rugged terrain. The logs are waiting to be hauled into the mill for processing into wood pulp, which is then used to make paper.
Behind the floating logs, the mill buildings line the shore. They are large, industrial structures with several chimneys rising from them — a sign of the steam-powered or chemical processes used to break down wood into pulp. The mill sits right at the water's edge, which is no accident: it needs constant access to both the log supply (delivered by water) and to ships that will carry the finished pulp or paper to markets.
Rising steeply behind the mill are forested hills. The trees are dense and cover the slopes all the way up, making it clear that the mill is surrounded by the very resource it depends on. There is no flat land beyond the mill — the forest begins immediately, which is why the mill is squeezed onto the narrow strip between the hills and the water. …