- The United States has 738 million acres of forestland.
- Total forest growth exceeds the amount harvested each year since the 1940’s. Annual hardwood growth rate surpasses harvest by 70 percent.
- Each year 1.7 billion trees are planted in the United States – more than five trees for every man, woman and child in America – an average of 4.8 million seedlings each day.
The average tree takes in 1.4 pounds of carbon dioxide and gives off a pound of oxygen for every pound of wood grown. Carbon is stored in the wood. That means the tree will trap this carbon until it burns or decays.
Scientists estimate lumber manufacturing consumes just 4% of the energy used by all raw material manufacturers. Steel and concrete manufacturers consume 56%. A steel stud requires 21 times as much energy to produce and releases 15 times the sulfur dioxide as a wood 2x4. Producing concrete emits up to 3 times more carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon than lumber production.
To learn more forest facts explore this Web site, interactive games, multimedia assets, and reports.
