ISSUE:

News reports often paint the picture of a treeless future for West Virginia. What are the facts?

FACTS:

According to the USDA Forest Service inventory,West Virginia has 7 million more acres of forested land than it did in 1910.

West Virginia’s forests had 18 billion board feet of saw timber in 1949. In 2000, saw timber volume had increased to 71.4 billion board feet – that’s nearly four times as much.

The cycle of sustainable forestry depends on a full array of forest stand ages – not all young and not all old. West Virginia’s forests are approaching that desirable balance that assures that for every tree harvested or lost to fire, old age or other natural causes, another tree just a little younger is ready to take its place.

West Virginia ranks third in the nation, behind only Maine and New Hampshire, in the percentage of forested land.

Twelve million of the 15.4 million acres, 78 percent, in West Virginia are forest land.

West Virginia’s forests are at least 94% hardwood species (e.g., maple, oak, yellow-poplar,walnut).