Paper, Deforestation, and the Truth About Sustainable Forests

Submitted: Two Sides North America July 20, 2026

There’s a common misconception that using paper means cutting down forests. The reality is nearly the opposite. The paper industry utilizes trees, but depends on healthy, living forests, which means it has a direct economic interest in growing and maintaining them. The U.S. paper industry works with private landowners, often family-owned forests that have been stewarded across generations, to grow and maintain trees at nearly double the volume harvested each year. In Canada, the story is very much the same. The difference being that most forest land in Canada is owned by the government, with clear mandates for the forest industry to regrow forests through planting or natural regeneration. There are roughly 20% more trees in the U.S. today than there were in 1970, and close to three million are planted every day. That’s not a coincidence, it’s the result of an industry that can’t function without a renewable, living supply.

This is what sustainable forests actually looks like in practice: forests managed in cycles, with trees at different stages of growth selectively harvested and replanted continuously. It’snot mining a resource. It’s tending one. Foresters work with what’s already there, shaping and improving forest composition over time rather than clearing and starting over. And because the paper industry in the U.S. works primarily with private working forests, national parks and public lands remain essentially untouched, available for hiking, camping, hunting and other recreational uses.

Deforestation Facts

Deforestation is something different entirely. True deforestation means the permanent conversion of forested land to another use—agriculture, development, roads—where trees are cleared and not replaced, and the land stops being a forest altogether. That’s the ecological crisis associated with places like the Amazon. Responsibly managed paper production is essentially the opposite model: the commercial value of the trees is precisely what keeps the land forested and well-managed, and keeps the landowners invested in its long-term health.

Love Your Forests

Healthy forests also purify air and water, benefits that extend well beyond the paper supply chain and into the communities and ecosystems surrounding working forests. A well-managed forest isn’t just a source of raw material. It’s a functioning infrastructure for the natural world.

This is all great news for paper lovers. Choosing paper from sustainably managed sources isn’t a neutral act, it’s participating in a system that keeps forests growing. When the paper industry and foresters work to protect and expand forestland, consumers who choose paper are part of that chain, too. That notebook, card stock and paper packaging aren’t a threat to the trees. In a well-managed supply chain, it’s an argument for planting more of them.

Quick Facts: Deforestation and the U.S. Paper Industry

What Deforestation Actually Is

Deforestation is the permanent removal of forests to convert land to another use like farming, development, or roads, where trees are not replanted and the land stops functioning as a forest

Deforestation is not the same as logging or harvesting trees for paper; the critical distinction is whether the land remains forested afterward

The majority of global deforestation is driven by agricultural expansion, not paper or wood products

Tropical deforestation, the kind most often in the news, occurs largely in regions where paper industry sustainability standards do not operate

What the U.S. Paper Industry Actually Does

The industry grows and maintains forests at nearly double the volume it harvests each year

Close to 1 billion trees are planted in the U.S. every year, in large part driven by paper industry demand for a continuous, renewable supply

Canada plants nearly 600 million seedlings each year or about 1.6 million per day

Net forest area in the United States increased by approximately 10 million acres between 2000 and 2025.

Over the last decade, the percentage of forest area harvested in Canada has stayed below 0.4% of managed forest area and around 0.2% of total forest area

In the U.S., the paper industry works primarily with private and family-owned forests, not public lands or national parks, which remain virtually untouched

Over half of America’s privately owned forestland belongs to families and individual landowners, many of whom partner with paper companies to maintain and expand their forests

In Canada, 90% of forests are on government-owned land and companies that manage that land are governed by various regulations and policies that align with sustainable forest management principles

Working forests are managed in cycles, with young, middle-aged, and mature trees maintained simultaneously, ensuring continuous growth, not depletion

Sustainably managed working forests also help purify air and water, providing environmental benefits beyond the paper supply chain

The Bottom Line

Choosing paper from responsibly managed sources supports a system that keeps land forested; the commercial value of working forests is what incentivizes landowners to keep them as forests rather than converting them to other uses

About Two Sides North America

Two Sides North America is a member-supported non-profit advocacy organization for the paper, paper-based packaging, direct mail and graphic communications industries. Our goal is to dispel common environmental misconceptions and to inspire and inform businesses and consumers with engaging, factual information about the environmental sustainability and value of print, paper, and paper-based packaging. We are the only group working to dispel and remove Greenwashing language used by companies and organizations in North America.

To learn more about sustainable forests, Two Sides North America, and how to become a member, please visit twosidesna.org.