I read this same article and came away feeling a little different. I feel worse when I read about a tree stand falling to a disease.
If you look a little further into this situation you will find a couple of ways the pine growers could make things better.
Years ago, the yellow pine was cursed with the reputation of burning too quickly in house fires. Eventually, it became a political topic and the yellow pine 2 x 4 became extinct and white pine and spruce became the standard in stick construction. What a pity.
Yellow pine lumber producers retooled to the pressure treated demand and never looked back. It was an instant mother lode. The yellow pine industry has gone back to some dimensional lumber in yellow pine but they have not come back to the ubiquitous 2 x 4 in mass production.
In the last decade, with the help of the firefighters feedback across the nation the yellow pine has made a small comeback. People realized a far greater danger for firefighters in house fires was not yellow pine's burn rate but the vinyl siding fumes. Vinyl siding and particle board siding are so much more hazardous than yellow pine --- but they continue to be used in the US. If phosphate use is any indicator of how slowly NC will move on a known issue that can be easily resolved I think its fair to say it will be a while.
I am not sympathetic to self inflicted wounds but the tree growers are a different case and I think they can recover and flourish with a little innovation and re-tooling.
I love yellow pine for lots of applications. Its strong and there's plenty of it here on the Piedmont. In the last 4-5 furniture pieces I've built, all had pine in them.
Cherry and maple table. Pine drawer sides, back and bottom.
I don't fuss with keeping all yellow pine or all spruce or white pine. If its sitting unused, I shape it, fit it and out the door.
I use pine as my go to secondary wood. Unlike furniture manufacturers I continue to use secondary wood for all of the parts to save the precious wood for the viewers when its buttoned up.
This pine back might look out of place to some but this is how it was done for a long time. It's worth mentioning-- books and objects stored will take up covering most of the back once it finds a home.
Additioally: I like the smell of pine a whole lot more than walnut. When I cut walnut the sawdust makes me sneeze.
Pine will be alright it will come around.
