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Logging: A Sustainable Practice
Wood is abundant. More than eight billion acres, one quarter of the total earth's surface, are forested. The known deposits of oil, iron ore, coal and other minerals are extremely scarce compared to the wood fiber available. Only a small fraction of the world's forest resources is being utilized. An acre of good forest can grow, annually, several times as much fiber as cotton and as much sugar as the same soil planted in sugar beets.
The wood resource is inexhaustible. The forest is not a mine that will be depleted, but a crop...provided that trees are harvested as a crop and the forest is sustained by proper management. Here are a few facts:
About one-third of the United States is covered with timber - 731 million acres.
About one-third of America's forests are set aside in national parks, wilderness areas and other noncommercial areas - 245 million acres.
57% of commercial U.S. forest lands are owned by private individuals, 28% by the government, and 15% by the forest industry equalling 486 million acres.
In 1991 - more than 2.7 billion seedlings were planted by the forest industry. That is more than 10 trees for every man, woman and child in America.
An average American uses wood and paper products equivalent to what can be produced from one 100-foot, 18" tree every year.
www.loggers.com/timber_facts.htm |
One of nature's greatest gifts to mankind is wood. No other material has provided so much through the centuries. Not only does it provide food, shelter, energy for warmth and cooking, clothing, tools and 10,000 other products, but it renews itself naturally. Had we not been
provided this wonderful resource, we would have been forced to invent it. Trees take our waste carbon dioxide and provide the much needed oxygen our world requires for life.
Think of all the consumer products made of wood. If you add all those products that are made by processing wood into other materials, the numbers are astonishing. Products made from wood fiber include all kinds of paper and board materials, cabinets, decorative woodwork, mouldings, beautiful furniture, construction materials, sports equipment, parts for weaving and knitting mills, flooring, home building, rayon and other fibers, tanning chemicals and thousands of other products that touch our lives daily.
Some products that come from wood (trees) include:
dye
oxygen
piano keys
rayon - books
fishing floats - inks
telephone books
varnish - atlases and maps
price tags - ping pong balls
tires - umbrella handles -signs
automobile instrument panels
space craft reentry shields - newspaper
photographic film - newspapers - posters
football helmets - toilet seats - guitars
road building materials - insulation
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shatterproof glass - artificial vanilla flavoring
cork - vacuum cleaner bags - movies - stadium seats
adhesives - decorations - turpentine - camphor - waxes
fireworks - crayons - tannin - charcoal - pine oil - pitch
musical instruments - perches for birds of prey - toilet paper
milk cartons - flooring - bark for landscaping - cardboard
grocery bags - furniture - chewing gum - paper towels
oil spill control agents - Christmas trees - hockey sticks
wildlife habitat - cosmetics - roofs - baby foods - cider - vitamins
cooking utensils - photographic film - lacquer - pallets - rubber gloves
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mulch - clean water - golf tees - egg cartons - nail polish - fence posts - toys
toothpaste - eyeglass frames - syrup - antacids - shampoo - rubber gloves
menthol - electrical outlets - medicines - energy for electricity - plates and bowls
sausage casings - torula yeast - rulers - wooden blocks - houses - notebook paper oars
plywood - paper plates - computer casings - stain remover - coffee filters -toothpicks
movie tickets - carpet and upholstery backsides - imitation bacon - diapers - horse corrals
postcards - tax forms - sponges - shade - particle board - shoe polish - luggage
- bowling alley lanes - postage stamps - colognes - animal bedding - irrigation piping - fruit pie filling - golf balls - game boards - suspending agent for drinking soda - pencils - dry wall - baby cribs - baseball bats - lumber - decoys - kites - magazines -ice cream thickener - step ladders - birthday cards - broom sticks - cider - ceiling tiles - crutches - backyard play sets - axe handle - food labels - 2 x 4's - candy wrappers - scenery - party invitations - disinfectants - cd inserts - gummed tape - fruit - railroad ties - shelter belts - puzzles - swings - baking cups
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buttons - cutting boards
benches - bird houses
stereo speakers
garden stakes
stairways - beds
tables - barrels
window frames
bulletin boards
linoleum - seesaws
fishing boats - billboards
disposable medical clothing
church pews - totem poles - desks |
from www.idahoforests.org/wood_you.htm
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