Participants in these conversations might find this website helpful: The State of America’s Forests https://usaforests.org/
There is a lot of information to explore. Including an entire section on tree growth, planting, harvesting and mortality. You can look at private land, public land, different regions of the country: https://usforests.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapJournal/index.html?appid=ec04704969514f20b1eb63280275c34c
There is so much data! You could spend hours exploring the information. For example in 2016, the mortality rate for growing stock was higher on public timberland (1.24 percent) than on private timberland (0.86 percent). The highest mortality rate (1.28 percent) was in softwood species on public timberland, mostly in the West.
Or the annual net growth (defined as growth minus mortality) on U.S. timberland reached 25 billion cubic feet in 2016, almost twice the annual net growth in 1952.
And the volume harvested from the nation’s timberland in 2016 represented 1.3 percent of the total timber volume available for harvesting. Georgia, Louisiana, Florida, Alabama, Texas and South Carolina harvested the highest percentage of growing stock, 3 percent.
The volume of timber harvested on U.S. timberland has fallen by 8 percent since 1976 and by 17 percent since 2006. The change is due both to a decrease in removals and to the reclassification of some timberlands into other forest categories (reserved, protected) or land uses (development). Southern hardwoods experienced the highest decline, 35 percent, since 2006.
Like I said. Lots of data. And not just on timber harvesting You can explore certification: https://usforests.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapJournal/index.html?appid=dfe7da49c651424eb39a14c61c4d5f7f
There’s information on invasives, water, wildlife, recreation, on and on.
If it’s raining this weekend where you are, explore the website. If it’s sunny, maybe a walk in the woods?
Happy spring,
Michael