In North America, we grow many more trees than we harvest

NORTH AMERICAN FORESTS ARE A RENEWABLE RESOURCE THAT IS CONTINUOUSLY REPLENISHED USING SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT.

The greatest incentive for continued investment and retention of our nation’s forests is a stable market for paper and other wood products.

Dovetail Partners, 2016

• Paper manufacturers encourage forest sustainability through their purchase and use of certified wood fiber and by promoting sustainable forest management policies and practices at home and around the globe. By providing a dependable market for responsibly grown fiber, the paper industry encourages landowners to manage their forestland instead of selling it for development or other non-forest uses.¹

• Net forest area in the U.S. has been stable since the early 1900s and increased by about 2% from 752 million to 765 million acres between 2007 and 2017.² Net volume of growing stock increased by more than 5% over the same period.² Canada’s forest area of 857 million acres has been quite stable over the past 25 years.³

• Each year, forests in North America grow significantly more wood than is harvested. In the U.S., average net annual increase in growing-stock trees on timberland is about 25 billion cubic feet.² In 2017, Canada harvested just over 5.5 billion ft3 of timber, well below the estimated sustainable wood supply level of 7.8 billion ft³.³

• Tree cutting and removal in the U.S. occurs on less than 2% of forest land per year in contrast to the nearly 3% disturbed annually by natural events like insects, disease, and fire.² Harvesting occurs on 0.2% of Canada’s forest lands each year while 4.5% is disturbed by insects and 0.7% by fire.³

• Sustainable forest practices, forest certification and government regulations require mandatory regeneration so that harvested areas continue to produce forests for the long term.³

• More than half the forest land in the U.S is owned and managed by about 11 million private forest owners. Private forest lands provided 89% of the domestically produced wood and paper products in 2017.² The income landowners receive for trees grown on their land encourages them to maintain, sustainably manage and renew this valuable resource.

Please refer to our Two Sides Fact Sheets for more information

¹ Dovetail Partners, 2016
² Oswalt et al., 2019
³ Natural Resources Canada (NRCAN), 2020