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Tree & Wood Facts

Statistics

  • Since 2007, there are 119% more trees than there were in 2007, with there being every two new trees for every one removed. 
  • When trees are harvested, they are only harvested once they have absorbed as much carbon as they will absorb in their lifetime. This means that half the weight of the dried wood is carbon that has been captured forever.
  • During a year, 100 trees can remove 53 tons of carbon dioxide, as well as pull 430 pounds of other pollutants from the air.
  • It has been found that yards with more trees can increase property values by up to 15%! 
  • There are up to 133 million acres of opportunity in the United States to restore forest cover for climate mitigation.

Softwoods

  • In 2020, Softwood Lumber board found that there were 73 board feet of softwood produced for every $1 invested.
  • In 2020, the carbon benefit for reported softwood projects was equivalent to taking 945,100 cars off the road for a year, or 4.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide.
  • Due to responsible forest management, the softwood industry was able to plant 3 new trees for every 1 harvested in 2020.
  • In 2020, more than 115,700 hours of education about softwood were taken by pros, a 7% increase.
  • Since 2020, the softwood industry has supported more than 775,000 jobs, direct and indirect. These jobs are all a part of the lumber harvesting and manufacturing industry.

Thinkwood

https://www.thinkwood.com/sustainability

  • Wood is the only naturally renewable building material. Wood stores carbon and requires less energy throughout its life cycle. Demand for wood products helps ensure forested land remains forested.
  • North America has more certified forests than anywhere else in the world. Modern forestry standards ensure a continuous cycle of growing, harvesting and replanting.
  • Demand for forest products keeps forests as forests. Growth in demand for forest products has led to greater forest productivity and inventory for storing carbon.
  • Active forest management, or forest thinning, mitigates wildfires, cuts carbon emissions, replenishes area waterways, expands wildlife habitat, and creates jobs in rural areas.
  • Each year, the U.S. plants over 1 billion trees and Canada plants over 600 million trees. Both countries have spurred more than 50 consecutive years of net forest growth that exceeds annual forest harvests due to responsible forest management.
  • Just a 1% increase in annual demand for industrial wood products could drive 77,000 square miles of new sustainably managed working forests – roughly half the area of California state.
  • Foresters practice forest regeneration to ensure forests have enough natural seeds, seedlings, and tree sprouts to grow for the future and assist natural growth, after disturbances like wildfire. This increases biodiversity and decreases endangered species.

Mass Timber

    • Scientists estimate lumber manufacturing consumes just 4% of the energy used by all raw materials 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 2×4. Producing concrete emits up to 3 times more carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and hydrocarbon that lumber production.

 

    • If hardwood trees stopped growing today, and harvesting continued at the same rate, our hardwood timber supply would last over 75 years.

 

    • Forest management enhances biodiversity after harvest, while providing a mosaic of forest types and age classes across the landscape, and benefiting a broader range of plants and animals than does any single habitat type – including old-growth forests. Forests cover about one-third of all land in the United States. The Pacific Northwest is home to some of our oldest forests, while hardwood forests are most abundant east of the Mississippi River.

 

    • Mre than 58 percent of America’s timberland is owned by non-industrial private landowners. Twenty seven percent of the timberland consists of public lands and national forests, while 14 percent is owned by the forest industry.

 

    • The National Forest System (191 million acres) was established “…to furnish a continuous supply of timber for the use and necessities of citizens of the United States…” and to improve and protect the forest, securing favorable conditions of water-flows. Twenty-five percent of the gross receipts from timber sales by the National Forest System go directly to states for county roads and schools, which amounts to hundreds of millions of dollars each year.

 

    • The United States still has 70% of the forest land it had in pre-colonial times. The decline in U.S. forest land area stabilized shortly after 1900, following the end of widespread agricultural clearing, and has remained relatively constant since.

 

    • The average single-family home contains over 13,000 board feet of lumber, and 94 percent of all new homes are built with wood frames.

 

    • Wood is recyclable, biodegradable and durable – sometimes lasting for centuries. When it is no longer needed, it can be returned to the earth and renewed for future generations. Resources such as iron ore, coal and limestone, once removed, are gone forever.

 

  • Wood is a more efficient insulator, requires less energy, less clean water, and creates less carbon dioxide than manufactured steel.

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