"Forestry for the Future"
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Globally, forests play a large part in ecosystem functions, biodiversity and economics.
It is estimated that there are somewhere between 5 and 30 million species on Earth. Forests provide habitat for some two thirds of these.
Approximately one half of the world's forest carbon is found in boreal forests and over one third in tropical forests.
According to 1994 estimates, forests provide approximately US$969 per hectare per year (a total of US$4.7 trillion per year) in goods and services annually. These functions include nutrient cycling, climate regulation, and raw materials.
Some 60 million people (indigenous and non-indigenous) inhabit forests and depend on them for their livelihoods.
In the early 1990s, the production and manufacturing of industrial wood products contributed US$400 billion to the global economy, approximately 2 percent of the global GDP.
For documents containing information about the area, distribution and health status of global forests, visit the World Resources Institute at http://www.nrdc.org/land/forests/fforestf.asp or http://forests.wri.org/.
There are 747 million acres of forestland in the United States, about 71% as much as there was in 1630.
America's forests are owned by private individuals (54%), public agencies (37%), and private industries (9%). The United States of America is home to nearly 430 million acres of privately owned forest.
The science of forestry was established in the United States at the turn of the century, at a time when vast areas of forests had been cut down with little thought of the future. Foresters have done a magnificent job in restoring America’s forests. Our forests now grow nearly four times more wood each year than in 1920.
There are a total of 247 billion trees above 1" diameter in the US on all lands, according to the last forest inventory.
Each year about 1.4 billion tree seedlings are planted – roughly four million a day – more than making up for those that are harvested. If you include naturally regenerated trees the net growth exceeds the harvesting by 33% due to good forest management.
The average American uses about 749 pounds of paper every year and 95% of the houses built are done so using wood. That means that the average person uses the equivalent of a 100 foot high, 16 inches in diameter tree each year for their wood and paper needs.
Parks, wildlife refuges, and other preserves span 166 million acres of the nation’s total land mass; and the National Wilderness Preservation System covers an additional 104 million acres – a total of 270 million acres set aside for parks, refuges, or wilderness areas. The first set aside wilderness area was the Gila in New Mexico, with Aldo Leopold, a forester, as its primary advocate.
The forest industry ranks among the top 10 employers in 40 of the 50 states.
About 45 percent of the paper consumed in the United States is recovered for recycling. Recycled paper, however, is not "pure" so it must contain some new wood fiber for strength.
Students in Allegheny College's Bousson Forest.
Photo by Megan HaidetThree well-placed mature trees around a house can cut air-conditioning costs by 10-50 percent, while trees and other landscaping can increase property value by 5-10 percent.
One mature tree absorbs approximately 13 pounds of carbon dioxide a year. For every ton of wood a forest grows, it removes 1.47 tons of carbon dioxide and replaces it with 1.07 tons of oxygen.
Today, the United States has about the same amount of land covered by trees (or slightly less) as it did in 1907.
* Above information provided by the Society of American Foresters.
US Forest Facts and Historical Trends is a 24 page document that includes information relating to U. S. forests, specifically, in a global context.
Almost sixty percent (17 million acres) of Pennsylvania's 28 million acres of land are covered by forests.
Private forest landowners own seventy-one percent (12.5 million acres) of the Commonwealth's forest land. These forests provide a variety of resources including timber, wildlife habitat, water purification, aesthetics and recreation.
The timber and forest products industry is the fourth largest in the state, providing jobs for over 90,000 workers and generating almost $5 billion annually for the state of Pennsylvania. Nationally, Pennsylvania ranks first in hardwood production. Forest-based recreation is also a large part of Pennsylvania's second largest industry, tourism.
Visit Pennsylvania's Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to learn more about forests in the state.
Northwestern Pennsylvania is roughly composed of 50% forested lands. These woodlands are primarily privately owned by non-industrial woodland owners. To view a land cover map depicting forest, farm, developed and wet lands for Erie, Warren and Crawford counties Click here (Note: this document is a pdf. formatted map).
How important are forests in Crawford, Warren and Erie counties?
To find out, click on the name of each county for a summary provided by the Penn State Natural Resource Extension.
