Lumber mills figuratively as well as literally built Elizabeth City. Logs were floated to lumber mills on the Pasquotank River and the Dismal Swamp Canal as well as the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal. Bald cypress and Atlantic white cedar (juniper) flowed out of the Great Dismal Swamp for use in construction because the wood was light and resistant to rot. Residents of the swamp also made shingles and siding which were very desirable since they lasted a long time on houses.

During the colonial period, forests were the major source of income in eastern N.C. other than farming. Even farming benefited because large areas of woodland were cleared to create farmland. Longleaf pines were once the dominant species of tree in inland N.C. forests during the early colonial period. The trees were cut for timber and burned to produce tar, pitch, turpentine and rosin for use in wooden ships. This led to the Tar Heel nickname for North Carolinians. Civil War soldiers from N.C. were derisively called “tar heels,” but they proudly claimed the name because they said that N.C. regiments stood their ground in battle like they had tar on their heels.

Now we are in a trade war with Canada which includes tariffs on paper and wood products. Canada has long been unfairly competing because most of their lumber and pulpwood is cut on government-owned lands at very low costs. U.S. companies mostly cut lumber and pulpwood on privately owned property and they have to pay a much higher stumpage fee. Even if the logs come off company-owned tracts, they still have to pay the costs of building roads, keeping the underbrush down to control for fire and pay property taxes. Companies physically remove some underbrush from their tracts, but often they use controlled burns to eliminate the underbrush without harming the trees.

Canada doesn’t pay the cost of clearing underbrush on the large tracts of government-owned forests, which is why the huge fires in Canadian forests produced the clouds of smoke which blanketed this area just a few weeks ago. Private companies in Canada pay relatively low fees to cut timber and pulpwood on government-owned tracts in Canada, so they can undercut the lumber prices charged by American companies.

Canada mostly produces spruce timber, which weighs much less than yellow pine. Spruce was once largely used to build manufactured homes, but now spruce directly competes with pine lumber for home construction.

Paper mills once dotted eastern N.C. but have now been reduced to a fraction of what they once were. And it was not just N.C., because many local residents used to commute to Virginia to work in paper mills such as the Union Camp paper mill in Franklin, Virgina, which closed in 2010. Some portions of the Union Camp Mill have been converted to produce tissue paper, but it only employs a small fraction of the number of employees who had worked there prior to its closure.

Lumber is still a substantial part of the local economy. JW Jones directly employs about 150 workers and buys timber from many smaller companies which also employ workers. Over the years, JW Jones closed the mill in Mackeys Ferry in Roper, but their chip mill on Pointdexter Street is still in operation.

So the tariffs on Canadian paper, pulpwood and lumber will stimulate local industries. But the tariffs are probably short-term solutions because the U.S. is negotiating with Canada to produce a new trade treaty. Meanwhile, local industries will see a minor boost in their business.

Michael R. Worthington is an unaffiliated voter who grew up in Scuffleton and lives in Pasquotank County.