The 2000 Renewable Resources Planning Act Assessment (2000 RPA Assessment) is the fourth assessment prepared in response to the mandate in the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974, P.L. 93-378, 88 Stat. 475, as amended (RPA). The 2000 RPA Assessment consists of a summary report and supporting documents. Renewable resources in this assessment include outdoor recreation, fish and wildlife, wilderness, timber, water, range, and minerals. In addition, and for the first time, there is an assessment of the urban forest resource. Data presented in this brochure highlight the findings of the 2000 RPA assessment regarding forest resource statistics: reserved forest land, timber land, forest landownership, forest composition, mortality, growth and removals, tree planting, products made from timber, and urban influences on forest land area. Regional data are reported geographically as North, South, and West.

Forest Inventory

Various attributes of the forest resource are inventoried by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service (USDA Forest Service) Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Program and reported in the RPA Assessment and various supporting documents. To provide timely, scientifically reliable estimates of the status, condition, and trends of the Nation’s forests, the FIA has conducted field inventories for more than 70 years using state-of-the-art technology. These inventories have provided critical information in the development and implementation of policies and practices that support sustainable forestry in the United States. Seven national reports based on FIA data have been produced since 1953.

Land and forest area trends in the United States-1
(million acres)   

Reserved forest land has doubled since 1953 and now stands at 7 percent of all forest land in the United States. This reserved forest area includes State and Federal parks and wilderness areas but does not include conservation easements, areas protected by non-governmental organizations, and most urban and community parks and reserves. Significant additions to Federal forest reserves occurred after the passage of the Wilderness Act in 1964.

Timber land is fairly evenly distributed among the three major regions of the United States. Other forest land, such as slow-growing forests of spruce in interior Alaska and pinyon-juniper in the interior West, dominate many western landscapes and comprise more than one-fourth of all U.S. forest land.

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The ownership of forest land in the United States varies from East to West. While private forest land predominates in the East, public ownership is predominant in the West.

As timber production shifts from public to private land, there is an increasing need to have information on the management objectives of the private forest land owners. This information is critical to policies promoting sustainable forestry in the United States. Recent studies have shown that only 5 percent of the private forest landowners in the United States have a written management plan. However, these plans cover 39 percent of the private forest area in the United States. Private forests provided 89 percent of the Nation’s timber harvest in 1996.

U.S. forests are predominantly natural stands of native species. Planted forest land is most common in the East and heavily comprised of planted stands of native pine in the South.

Over the past 50 years, growth has generally exceeded removals throughout the United States. While harvest levels have leveled off in recent years, there has been a decided shift from public land in the West to private land in the East. In 1996, softwood removals in the South exceeded growth for the first time since 1952, when national inventory data first became available.

According to recent FIA State Reports, harvesting in the United States is approximately 62 percent selective felling and 38 percent clearfelling.

Urban influences include

1. 28 percent of the Nation's forests are located in counties with urban centers of greater than 20,000 persons.

2. Urban areas (cities, towns, or villages with at least 2,500 people) occupy 3.5 percent of the total land area in the United States.

3. Urban areas have an average tree cover of 27.1 percent.

4. As landscapes become fragmented and more urbanized, more forests will be managed by urban residents and institutions.

Land that is at least 10 percent stocked by forest trees of any size, including land that formerly had tree cover and that will be naturally or artificially regenerated. The minimum area for classification of forest land is 1 acre.

Growing stock volume

Live trees of commercial species meeting specified standards of quality and vigor. Cull trees are excluded. Includes only trees 5 inches in diameter or larger at 4.5 feet above ground.

Growth (Net Annual)

The net increase in the volume of growing stock trees during a specified year. Components include the increment in net volume of trees at the beginning of the specific year that survive to the end of the year, plus the net volume of trees reaching the minimum size class during the year, minus the volume of trees that died during the year, and minus the net volume of trees that became cull trees during the year.

Hardwood

A dicotyledonous tree, usually broad-leaved and deciduous.

Logging residues

The unused portions of growing-stock trees cut or killed by logging and left in the woods.

Mortality

The volume of sound wood in growing stock trees that died from natural causes during a specified year.

National forest

An ownership class of Federal lands, designated by Executive Order or statute as a national forest or purchase unit, under the administration of the Forest Service.

Other Federal

An ownership class of Federal lands other than those administered by the Forest Service. Primarily lands owned by the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Departments of Energy and Defense.

Forest land other than timber land and productive reserved forest land. It includes available and reserved forest land, which is incapable of annually producing 20 cubic feet per acre of industrial wood under natural conditions because of adverse site conditions, such as sterile soils, dry climate, poor drainage, high elevation, steepness, or rockiness.

Other removals

Unutilized wood volume from cut or otherwise killed growing stock, from cultural operations such as pre-commercial thinnings, or from timber land clearing.

Removals

The net volume of growing stock trees removed from the inventory during a specified year by harvesting; cultural operations, such as timber stand improvement; or land clearing.

Reserved forest land

Forest land withdrawn from timber utilization through statute, administrative regulation, or designation.

Roundwood products

Logs, bolts, and other round timber generated from harvesting trees for industrial or consumer use.

Softwood

A coniferous tree, usually evergreen, having needles or scale-like leaves.

Timber land

Forest land that is capable of producing crops of industrial wood and not withdrawn from timber utilization by statute or administrative regulation. (Note: Areas qualifying as timber land are capable of producing in excess of 20 cubic feet per acre per year of industrial wood in natural stands.)