· The nation's forest land area is still about two-thirds the size it was in 1600.  This is in spite the conversion of 307 million acres of forest land to other uses, principally agriculture.

  Add to this the enormous harvest that has been necessary to build this nation, warm its citizens and drive its engines.  To this total, add all of the losses to forest fires, diseases and insects.  Even after all of this, we still have two-thirds as much forest land as was when the Pilgrims landed.

 · Nonindustrial private forest lands comprise 59% of all U.S. forest land, and accounted for 49% of the harvest in 1991; private industrial lands comprise 14% of all U.S. forest land, and accounted for 33% of the 1991 harvest; national forests comprise 17% of all U.S. forest land, and accounted for 12% of the 1991 harvest; other public ownerships account for 13% of the U.S. forest land base, and accounted for 6% of the 1991 harvest.

 · More trees are growing in the nation's forests today than at any time since the early 1900s.

 · In 1900, forest growth rates were a fraction of harvest. Today, annual forest growth exceeds harvest by 33%.

 · Net annual growth has increased 55% since 1952, and growth per acre has increased 62%.

 · Softwood net growing volume increased 4% between 1952 and 1992 and hardwood growing volume increased 82% during the same period.

 · Nationally, standing timber volume per acre in U.S. forests is 33% greater than in 1952.

 · In 1991, growth exceeded removals in all regions; in the North by 92%; in the South by 10%; in the Rocky Mountains by 163%; and in the Pacific Coast region by 14%. For the U.S., hardwood growth exceeded removals by 80% and soft­woods, by 9%. About 67% of total harvest was softwood; the remaining 33%, hardwood.

· Annual growth in national forests now exceeds harvest by more than 60%.

· Of the nation's standing softwood sawtimber inventory, 47% is located in publicly-owned national forests.

 · Of America's national forest land base, 70% is in land use categories where timber production is forbidden. 30% remains open to varying levels of harvest.

 · There are about 6.2 million acres of old-growth timber standing in national forests in Oregon and Washington. Of these 6.2 million acres, 3.2 million are set aside in areas where harvesting is forbidden. Another one million acres of old-growth is standing in national parks and other reserves, where timber harvesting is forever forbidden.

 · According to the U.S. Forest Service, domestic demand for wood fiber will increase by 50% by the year 2020.

 · The U.S. is the world's leading importer and consumer of industrial and consumer raw materials. Most of the non-wood raw materials consumed in America come from developing nations, where there are few environmental restrictions, compared to those in force here. Wood is one of the few raw materials consumed in America that comes mostly from American soil and is manufactured here.

 · By weight, U.S. consumption of wood fiber is roughly equal to consumption, by weight, of all metals, plastics and cement, combined.

 · Although wood consumption accounts for almost half of the total annual industrial raw material tonnage, lumber and wood products manufacturing processes account for only about 4% of energy consumed by industrial raw material manufacturers.

 · In the book, World Resources: A guide to the Global Environment, the editors point out that emissions from gas used in the pressing of steel have increased 900% since 1950; and emissions from oil, used in steel processing, have increased 500% during the same period. These emissions contribute to acid rain, which in turn sterilizes lakes and rivers, kills trees and forests, and impacts the health of people and wildlife.

In The Long-Term Impacts of Increasing Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Levels, G. J. McDonald reports coal and oil combustion each account for about 40% of total fossil fuel emissions; natural gas, about 20%.

In a preliminary life cycle analysis conducted by Scientific Certification systems for the Western Wood Products Assoc., it is reported that concrete production emits two to three times more carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons than the production of lumber.

The same report estimates aluminum production results in eight times the air emissions and 300 times the water emissions; and concrete production creates five times more solid waste than wood produces.

The 1976 CORRIM Report, prepared for the National Science Foundation, reported aluminum framing for exterior walls was nearly 20 times as energy intensive as wood framing, and steel framing required 13 times as much energy as wood. Also, energy requirements for brick veneer siding were 25 times those of wood-based siding materials.

 · Wood is the only natural resource on Earth that is at once renewable, recyclable, biodegradable and re-usable. The energy required to grow our timber supply is free. It comes from the Sun.

 · An unintended consequence of efforts to preserve America's forests by importing wood from other nations or by forcing increased use of nonrenewable wood substitutes, is that we place the global environment at greater ecological risk. When the nation's raw material equation is viewed from this perspective, the inescapable conclusion is that we should be striving to increase the sustainable production of wood grown in America's forests.