Texas

Ranking as one of the state’s top manufacturing industries, Texas’ forest products industry is a vital component of the state’s economy. The industry employs 86,000 workers with an annual payroll of $2.3 billion.  Texas’ paper and wood manufacturing workforce represents 5.4 percent of the state’s total manufacturing workforce.

Approximately 11 percent of Texas is forested.

Texas' Land Area (in thousands of acres)
Total Land Area: 167,626
Forests: 18,354
Forests as Percent of Total: 10.9%
Federal Lands: 2,804
National Forest System: 755

Timberland (in thousands of acres)
Government
   Federal: 661
   State: 68
   County & Municipal: 47
Forestry Industry: 3,720
Other Private Nonindustrial: 7,271
Total Timberland: 11,767

Federal Land Set-Asides (in thousands of acres)
National Parks: 1,236
Reserved National Forest: 38
Fish & Wildlife Service: 497
Total: 1,771

Recycled Paper Consumption (in thousands of short tons): 883

Tree Planting (acres)
Federal: 1,014
State, County & Municipal: 352
Forest Industry: 93,991
Farmer & Other Private: 67,260
Total: 162,617

Value of Industry Shipments (in thousands of dollars)
Wood Product Manufacturing: $4,383,130
Paper Manufacturing: $5,810,609

Capital Expenditures (in thousands of dollars)
Wood Product Manufacturing: $135,073
Paper Manufacturing: $221,415

Annual Production
Softwood Lumber (million board feet): 1,385
Hardwood Lumber (million board feet): 166
Structural Panels (million square feet): 3,228
Paper (in thousands of short tons): 1,234
Paperboard (in thousands of short tons): *
*withheld to avoid disclosing data for individual company

Timberland Ownership
Government: 6%
Forest Industry: 32%
Other Private Nonindustrial: 62%

Texas’ total softwood and hardwood inventory has increased 64 percent since 1953 despite increasing production of wood and paper products.

Employment
Forestry: 2,551
Lumber & Wood Products (includes logging): 53,253
Paper & Allied Products: 29,930