Note that the data published in the 2002 State of the Nation’s Ecosystems Report as well as the 2003 and 2005 Web-Only Updates have been superseded by the 2008 Report and thus should be used with caution. For the most recent data, purchase the 2008 Report from Island Press.

View Data for Timber Growth and Harvest

What Is This Indicator, and Why Is It Important? This indicator reports the amount of new wood grown and the amount of wood harvested each year on public and private timberlands, by region. The balance between growth and harvest tells us whether the amount of wood potentially available for harvest is increasing or decreasing.

What Do the Data Show? Growth exceeds harvest on both public and private timberlands in both the East and West; with the exception of private timberlands in the West, this has been true for the past 50 years.

Growth is higher on public and private lands in both East and West than it was in the 1950s, although growth has more or less leveled off since the mid 1970s.

Following a peak in the mid-1980s, harvest decreased on public lands in the West; harvest levels in 2001 on both public and private lands were below those of the 1950s. Harvest on public and private lands in the East increased from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s and remained constant through 2001, with private lands accounting for the vast majority of both overall and increased production. Nationally, private lands account for almost 90% of total harvest, a figure that has grown only slightly since the 1950s. Although not shown, there may be substantial differences between northern and southern areas within the eastern and western regions shown here.

See also Timber Harvest .