New Study: The Economic Impact of Privately-Owned Forests
An excellent study conducted by Forest2Market, Inc. [here] has been published by The National Alliance of Forest Owners (NAFO) [here].
NAFO has been formed as a lean and nimble organization, focused on the U.S. industry of private forest owners/managers and their business needs. NAFO will strive to effectively influence and direct private forest policy by providing timely and relevant information, education and lobbying to policy-makers. We will develop strategic alliances where it is in the best interest of the organization, either from an efficiency or leveraged expertise standpoint. We strongly believe we will provide the greatest service and resources to our members by maintaining a top quality staff and volunteer commitment.
NAFO members own or manage over 75 million acres of private forests in 47 states, including: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
The study [here] is entitled The Economic Impact of Privately-Owned Forests.
The Executive Summary:
Privately-owned forests are an important part of the U.S. economy. As working forests, they employ active management techniques (land management planning, fertilizing, planting, thinning and harvesting) to produce timber, logs, pulpwood, chips and wood fuel. These intermediate outputs are then used by manufacturers of wood products, paper products and furniture and by energy producers to create higher value products. Private, working forests also contribute to the economy through recreation and tourism spending, hunting leases, and real estate taxes. In scope, these industries contribute as much to the national economy as the plastics and rubber manufacturing industry.
This study quantifies, in multiple ways, the contribution of the forestry, wood products, paper products and wood furniture industries on state and regional economies (exceptions are noted).
Table 1.1 shows the 5 regions and the 29 states that are covered in this study. In addition, it contains a breakdown of the following:
* The number of jobs created for each 1,000 acres of privately-owned forests (an average of 8 jobs).
* The amount of payroll that is generated for each acre of privately-owned forest (an average of $270)
* The state taxes (both income and severance) generated for each acre of privately-owned forest (an average of $9.85)
* The annual sales generated by each acre of privately-owned forest ($733)
* Contribution made to state and regional GDPs by each acre of privately-owned forests (an average of $318)
Contribution to state GDP per acre data show most dramatically the additional value that privately-owned forests make to the economy. For the 29 states covered in this study, the contribution to GDP per acre for all forests is $359; private forests account for $318 of this total and other ownership types account for an average of $41 per acre.
The difference between private and public GDP contribution demonstrates the extent of the additional value added by privately-owned forests that are, in large part, actively managed. In aggregate, privately-owned forests in these states created $277 per acre more than forests with other ownership types.
