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Forest Facts
Some 1.5 billion trees are planted in the U.S. every year, about 5 trees for every American.
Annually, U.S. forestland owners plant about 6 trees for every tree harvested.
About one-third of America's original forest - some 300 million acres - have been converted to other uses, principally agriculture.
There are 26 million more acres of forestland in the Northeast than there were in 1900.
Today, forests blanket about one-third of the U.S. land base and about half the U.S. East.
U.S. annual growth rates have exceeded harvest rates since the 1940's.
Timber harvesting is forbidden on 50% of all National Forest lands in the U.S.
National Forests account for 20% of the nation's forestlands and 19% of its timberlands.
National Forests hold 46% of the nation's softwood timber inventory but only provide 6% of the annual harvest.
Since 1986, the harvest of timber from America's national forests has declined 70%.
In the West, 34% of all forestland and 54% of all timberlands are in national forests.
National forests in the Pacific Coast and Intermountain West regions hold 68% of the nation's softwood timber inventory, but provide less than 28% of annual harvest.
Forest density has increased 40% in the U.S. over the last 50 years.
Flying Finns
Home->Spring 2003
Conservation Policies Improve
By: Jim Petersen
A number of forest policies emerged as national goals and priorities in response to public concerns. The success of those policies depended upon effective cooperative relationships among federal, state, and local governments, as well as private forest landowners and other private sector interests.
The policies and priorities that had the greatest effect on the improved condition of our forests are the following:
- Focusing on fire suppression, prevention, and public education to protect the forest;
- Establishing and enhancing the profession of forestry, and later of wildlife management, hydrology, and other natural resource disciplines, through establishment of accredited natural resource schools, professional societies, etc.;
- Improving the art and science of forest regeneration and management, including research, establishment of tree nurseries, and providing technical and financial assistance to forest landowners;
- Improving the efficiency with which wood products are utilized in the woods, at the mill, and in end-product applications. Such gains are the result of wood utilization research, its effective application, and the incentive created by increasing real prices for forest products. The Forest Service’s Forest Products Laboratory in Madison, Wisconsin, established in 1910, has been a significant contributor over the years to expanding the technical knowledge necessary for improving the utilization of wood products;
- Improving the quality of forest management on private lands by improving economic incentives and removing tax and other disincentives;
- Establishing the Forest Reserves (later the National Forests) for watershed protection, irrigation, and sustained timber production.
- While not established for forestry purposes, one policy that nonetheless had a significant beneficial impact on the nation’s forest resources was the strategic decision made in USDA in the early decades of this century to emphasize agricultural research aimed at increasing crop yields. Prior to that, USDA primarily focused on statistical reporting, soil and farm implement testing, and related activities.
- An additional factor that has had a significant positive effect on forest conservation has been the increasing real price of wood over the decades. Between 1850 and 1950, the real price of lumber, and of standing timber, increased by more than five times, adjusted for inflation. This has created powerful economic incentives both for growing and managing forests and for reducing consumption of wood by using it more efficiently. The power of such economic incentives for conservation and efficient use of the resource by the private sector was largely unrecognized by early conservation leaders.
"We must always consider the environment and people together, as though they are one, because the
human need to use natural resources is fundamental to our continued presence on earth."
P.O. Box 1290, Bigfork, MT. 59911 • Tel: (406) 837-0966 • Fax: (406) 258-0815 • Email:
human need to use natural resources is fundamental to our continued presence on earth."