Lesson 3: America's Forests

The United States is home not only to many different types of forests, but to some of the most productive and best-managed forests in the world. In this lesson, we will discuss:

  • size and ownership of America's forests
  • types of forests
  • current trends and issues in American forests

 

Size and Ownership of America's Forests

Of the nearly 2.3 billion acres of land in the United States, almost one-third (751 million acres) is forest. About two-thirds of this forest (514 million acres) is classified as commercial timberland, that is, land capable of growing more than 20 cubic feet of wood per acre per year. (See Table 3-1, Classification of Land Area, 2017)

 

Table 3-1
Classification of Land Area, 2017
(In thousands of acres)
  Total land area Total forest area Timberland Reserved forestland Other forestland Other land

Maryland

 6,252 2,463 2,180 276  6  3,789

Northeast

 126,507 84,727 78,539 5,861  327  41,780

North Central

 286,162 91,062 86,355 3,586  1,121 195,100

South

 532,904 245,513 208,092 5,827  31,593 264,870

Rocky Mountains

 741,863 130,641 69,654  18,307 42,680 582,204

Pacific Coast

 573,389 213,549 71,784 47,109 94,656 353,944

United States

 2,260,825 765,493 514,425 80,691  170,377 1,437,897
Source: Data from U.S. Dept. of Agriculture Forest Service 2017

 

Fifty-eight percent of the nation's commercial forestland is under private ownership, that is, individuals, families, Native American tribes, partnerships, corporations, nongovernment organizations, and other private groups. Of the estimated 10.6 million private forest landowners, 62 percent own less than 10 acres of forestland. Most of the big parcels are owned by corporations for commercial use. Forty-two percent of the nation's forestland is publicly owned, either by the federal government (31%) or state and local governments (11%). Type of ownership varies considerably from region to region. Most forestland in the North and South is privately owned (73% and 86% respectively). In the Rocky Mountains and along the Pacific Coast (including Alaska and Hawaii), the federal government is the prime owner (70% and 52% respectively). (See Table 3-2, Ownership of U.S. Timberlands.)

 

Table 3-2 Ownership of U.S. Timberlands
In thousands of acres Percentage
Publicly owned timberlands Federal 108,178  21 
State and local 47,095   9 
Subtotal 155,273  30 
Privately owned timberlands Forest industry 117,155 23 
Nonindustrial 241,997 47 
Subtotal 359,152  70 
Total 514,425  100
Source: Data from U.S. Dept. of Agriculture Forest Service 2017.

 

The United States is now competing with China as the largest consumer of forest products. China has outranked the United States in overall consumption of forest products—nearly 17 percent verses the United States' nearly 12 percent. The United States is the largest consumer of industrial roundwood (18%) and pulp for paper (24%) while China ranks highest for consumption of sawnwood (26% while the U.S. ranks 21%), wood-based panels (47% while the U.S. ranks 12%), recovered paper (29% while the U.S. ranks 13%), and paper and paperboard (26% while the U.S. ranks 17%). In 2017 the United States consumed over 4.5 billion cubic feet of forest products.

Of the nearly one million homes built in the United States each year, 95 percent are constructed with wood framing. Today, an average home uses about 14,400 board feet of lumber and 15,300 square feet of panel products. Each American also used an average of 468 pounds of paper in 2018.

We are also competing with other countries as the world's largest producer of forest products. While the United States ranks first in the production of industrial roundwood (18%), wood pellets (20%), and pulp for paper (25%), India ranks first for production of woodfuel (16%), and China for sawnwood (18%), wood-based panel (50%), recovered paper (22%), and paper and paperboard (26%). What we do not consume ourselves we export. In 2017, the United States exported $39.7 billion in forest products. Canada, China, and Mexico are our largest customers. Following that are Brazil and Japan.

 

 

Forest Cover

Forests do not cover the United States in any type of even pattern. Land east of the Mississippi and along the Pacific coast, not developed or in agriculture, is heavily forested. The arid interior west is predominantly grassland and desert. State by state, Nebraska and North Dakota claim the least forest cover (less than 2% each). Maine claims the most (90%). Tree species vary from region to region as well. Mixed hardwoods blanket the eastern part of the country. Softwoods such as Douglas fir thrive in the western states. Southern pines predominate in the South. 

The continental United States is home to six major forest vegetation regions. The eastern forest includes the northern, central hardwood, southern, and subtropical regions. The Rocky Mountain and Pacific coast regions comprise the western United States. These forest regions are further broken down into almost 160 forest cover types. (See Figure 3-1, National Forest Type Groups of the Continental United States)

 

Figure 3-1 2022 National Forest Type Groups USFS.jpg

Figure 3-1, National Forest Type Groups of the Continental United States

 

The largely coniferous northern forest dominates much of the northern United States and Canada. Of the five trees most commonly found here-—eastern hemlock, eastern white pine, northern white cedar, balsam fir, and yellow birch—only the birch is not a conifer. The forest is a major component of the region’s economy. It also provides recreation to millions each year. 

The central hardwood forest spreads over at least 30 states. It is home to more than 20 genera and 75 species of mostly deciduous broad-leaved trees. The white oak has replaced the American chestnut as the region’s most important and widely distributed tree. Other important species include hickories, ashes, maples, yellow poplar, and walnut. A wide diversity of climate and soils is found throughout the region, resulting in wide variation of forest types. Because these lands have proved highly productive for agriculture, little original forest remains. Today, most of the land is owned in small parcels by private landowners. 

Abundant rainfall and mild temperatures characterize the southern forest, one of the world’s most productive commercial forests. Pines, including longleaf, slash, loblolly, and shortleaf, grow primarily on uplands and flatlands. Bald cypress and hardwoods are typical of swamps and bottomlands. In 2016, the southern forest supplied almost 75 percent of the pulpwood in the United States.

Public agencies own most of the largely coniferous Rocky Mountain forest (also known as the western interior forest). Species of commercial importance include ponderosa pine, western white pine, Douglas fir, lodgepole pine, and Engelmann spruce. These forests are not continuous. They grow in “belts” or zones in the more humid higher elevations. Grasslands dominate the lower elevations. Recreation, water production, and forage for sheep and cattle are the forest’s primary uses.

 

While yearly losses from wildfires varies from year to year, acres burned have decreased from 20 to 50 million acres in the early 1900s to 4.7 million acres in 2019.

The vegetation of the Pacific forest (a.k.a. west coast forest) changes with elevation and rainfall. The most characteristic tree is the Douglas fir. It is considered to be the most widely used species of commercial tree in the world. Other important species include the coast redwood, ponderosa, sugar and Jeffrey pines, and western hemlock. The Pacific forest is the smallest of the forest regions. Yet it produces more than one-third of the nation’s timber products, including more lumber than any other region. Pacific forests are also used extensively for outdoor recreation and water production. They yield some of the world’s oldest and largest trees, including redwoods, with average diameters of 8 to 12 feet and heights of 200 to 300 feet, and giant sequoias, with diameters of 12 to 14 feet.

Outside the continental United States, Alaska and Hawaii sustain large forested areas. Alaska has almost 13 million acres of commercial timberland in its coast and interior forests. Predominant species include softwoods such as western hemlock, Sitka spruce, white spruce, and lodgepole pine, and hardwoods such as red alder, quaking aspen, and black cottonwood. 

Hawaii’s 1.4 million acres of assorted wet and dry tropical forests inhabit about 36 percent of the island chain. Forest diversity is extensive. Rain forests, desert, and high mountain scrub forests reflect the variation in annual rainfall, which ranges from 20 inches or less to 100 inches. Hawaii’s predominant tree, the ohia lehua, germinates easily from lava flows. The koa is the most valuable native commercial tree. It competes with the black walnut in wood quality.

 

About four million trees are planted every day by private landowners. That equates to five trees each year for every man, woman and child in the United States.

 

Current Trends and Issues

Our nation’s forests fare among the most productive and protected in the world. A number of forces concern forest managers today. These include the conflicting needs of forest users, lack of forest management on private lands, decline in forest health, forest fragmentation, and loss of biodiversity.

A growing population and conflicting needs. The most dominant influence on our forests today is the nation’s growing population. The U.S. Census Bureau projects that between 2017 and 2060 the population will increase from 326 million to 404 million people. It is estimated to cross the 400 million mark by 2058. Growth in consumption of forest products and development of forest property will likely follow. At the same time that we demand more products from the forest, we also demand more of it in terms of aesthetic, social, and environmental amenities. All this places unprecedented, often conflicting, demands on the forest resource.

Lack of forest management. Increasing the productive potential of forestlands—whether it is for wood products, wildlife, clean water, or other values—will help meet future demands. Industry foresters, the U.S. Forest Service, and state agencies are addressing this issue on their lands. The challenge is to address the problem on private lands. Only about five percent of the nation’s nonindustrial forest landowners have a forest management plan on paper. Neglect can lead to a gradual decline in forest health and productivity.

Invasive species can cause economic and environmental harm and exert a negative impact on human health.

Forest health concerns. The past several decades have witnessed a decline in the health of some of the nation’s forests. Both natural and human influences are the cause. These influences, which include a combination of disease and insect infestations, air pollution, catastrophic fires, and prolonged drought, are not beyond modification. Properly applied forest management practices promote the general health and vigor of the forest stand. The result is trees better able to bear the impact of drought, air pollution, and insect infestations. 

Forest fragmentation. Forests fragment when they are interspersed with other land uses. Natural processes, such as wildlife movement and plant dispersal, are disrupted. Forest fragmentation is implicated in the decline of some species of birds known as FIDS for forest-interior dwelling species. FIDS, such as the scarlet tanager, require large unbroken tracts of forest habitat for survival. Furthermore, fragmentation encourages encroachment by exotic plant and animal species. Forest fragmentation is most obvious in rapidly developing suburban areas. More remote areas, however, also experience its effects as roads, vacation homes, and recreational enterprises develop.

Loss of biodiversity. Because of their complex structure, forests harbor a multitude of plant and animal species. Forests, therefore, are important reservoirs of our nation’s biological diversity, or biodiversity. Fragmentation and increasing ecological demands threaten biodiversity, which, in turn, concerns scientists. Loss of biodiversity happens for many reasons. The primary threat occurs when natural lands are converted to other uses. Other threats occur when, for instance, all of an area’s forests adopt common characteristics such as containing trees all the same age or the same species; natural elements such as fire are excluded; recreational areas are overused; or the air becomes polluted. The last two threats represent direct and indirect influences of human activity.

 

Forest Management Makes a Difference

Increasing the productivity of lands managed for forest products is an important factor in meeting demand for those products in the future. Practicing better forest management, improving harvesting techniques, and increasing efficiency at the mill are some of the ways to increase productivity.

In fact, forest productivity has increased significantly over the last 60 or so years. In 2017 net forest growth was 60 percent more than what it was in 1953. Growth is the result of introducing scientific management practices, aggressive tree planting efforts, use of genetically improved trees, and improved forest protection. Wood utilization has also improved. Today, more than twice the amount of usable lumber and other products can be manufactured from the same quantity of timber. Also, preservative treatments have greatly extended the life of wood. Increased efficiency at the time of harvest means much less waste is left in the forest.

For these trends to continue, we must continue to support sustainable forest management practices and research efforts by our state and federal agencies and forest products companies.

 

References

 

Assignment

Read:

Fazio, James R. The Woodland Steward: A Practical Guide to the Management of Small Private Forests. Pages 7–9.