Thursday, February 19, 2015

The Importance of Family Owned Forests, Part II



On Wednesday, February 4th, I shared new research about the benefits of family-owned forests--and the challenges faced by private woodlands. It was based on the Huffington Post op-ed by American Forest Foundation (AFF) President Tom Martin who outlined the findings.

In this next report of the AFFs special edition on the "Importance of Family Owned Forests" they focus on the tremendous supply of wood family forests currently provide. If all this wood were used as fuel, it could power 67 million homes for a year. Or, looking at it another way, that wood supply includes enough high-quality, large logs to build 37 million homes. Yet much of this family-owned forestland is threatened and the benefits it provides could be lost.

Take a look at our latest post to learn just how much wood is available in family forests, what threatens these woodlands, and what benefits--including wood products, clean water and wildlife habitat--could be lost if we don't take action.


 February 18, 2015, by Tom Martin
  
When you turned on your lights today, did you think of a family forest owner? Or how about this morning when you walked across your dark-stained pine floors and opened the drawers to your maple bureau: did you imagine the family-owned forest where it may have come from? Or when you sneezed and reached for a tissue?


Because families care for more of America’s forests than the government or corporations, family-owned forests and the products produced from these lands are part of every aspect of our lives and most of us don't even realize it. These lands are an integral piece of America’s forest puzzle - without them, we wouldn’t have the same clean air and water, wildlife habitat, places to recreate, or forest products we all use every day.

New research from the American Forest Foundation, produced in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service and the Family Forest Research Center, shows that the wood supplies in family-owned forests are abundant—these forests currently have more than 358 billion cubic feet of standing wood

To put this into context, if all this wood was low quality biomass and were used as fuel, it would create enough energy for 67 million houses for one year. Or, looking at it another way, that includes enough high quality, large logs to build 37 million homes. And could be renewed to build or power just as many in the future!

To read the rest of the story click here.

 

No comments: