Based on a Faustmann-type wealth-maximizing harvest timing model, as long as there is a fixed component to transport costs for wood, optimal stand harvest age should increase with distance. Further, one can imagine a certain distance, delineating the “extensive margin” of profitable timber management, beyond which stands are not harvested. Under a stochastic version of Faustmann (e.g., Brazee and Mendelsohn 1988*, Haight and Holmes 1991**), this extensive margin could vary with price variability, so that if prices were temporarily highly variable, and prices were abnormally but temporarily high, then some uncut stands very far from mills might be cut.
Hence, after controlling for factors that affect harvest costs, growth rates, and ownership objectives, we might find a positive relationship between stand age with distances to mills.
*Brazee, R., and R. Mendelsohn. 1988. Timber harvesting with fluctuating prices. Forest Science 34(2):359-372.
**Haight, R. G., and T. P. Holmes. 1991. Stochastic price models and optimal tree cutting: results for loblolly pine. Natural Resources Modelling 5(4):423-443.
