April was named Forestry and Paper Products Month by the Legislature. A state economist says this offers an excellent opportunity to think about the positive impact of Wisconsin's 17 million acres of forested lands and its millions of urban trees.
DNR forestry economist Julie Ballweg says if you look at the industry from forest to consumer products, the industry is a heavy-hitter in the state's economy..
"....it's an almost $23 billion dollar industry in Wisconsin in addition to almost 60,000 people that are employed in forestry. All those people spend money in local businesses and create another 200,000 jobs in Wisconsin...."
Wisconsin forests grow one and a half times more wood than what is harvested each year, even with saw timber volume increasing by 140 million cubic feet annually. In 2014, state forests contained 21.4 billion cubic feet of timber and grew by another 560 million cubic feet while timber harvests totaled 315 million cubic feet. The annual saw log growth alone represents enough wood to frame 105,000 homes.
