Just making conversation here, not attacking anybody's lifestyle but; The perceptions of "value" are very relative and have many facets. Don't even get me started on the Forester's viewpoint. I find many of these guys working in the forest to be like having the slaughterhouse line worker part-timing at your local veterinarian's office.
I'm sure. you're speaking purely of commercial value and given what you do, I see your point. To me, leaving a tree standing has many other forms of value, especially if you aren't going to use it at all. Same goes for many of the claims of forest "management". Again, I'm sure you're speaking in a primarily commercial sense. The big industrial operations have their way of managing things, within their very limited scope, to make things as is best essentially, for them. The ramifications beyond their limited interests are rarely if ever considered. I know with certainty that the forests did very well on their own long before we ever came along to "manage" them...
I know, you're probably thinking $@#%$# tree hugger!!! For perspective, I had the misfortune to be born in a vile place called Jersey City where trees were something you mostly saw on television. Once I got out of there and was first taken for a walk in a forest, it changed everything for me. I spend as much time in the woods as I can now and try my best to find those places where you could almost imagine you're first man that's ever set foot there. Yes, being a woodworker is a special conundrum for me. I'm also at a heightened point of irritation right now given my search for a home in New Hampshire/Vermont and the seeming impossibility of finding a house on a property that hasn't already been strip mined.
Anyway, I'm glad you were able to find use for some of it. Once I get up that way I will be looking for that thicker material for Windsor chair seats...