Questions & Answers

Where is the majority of hardwoods in the United States? The Eastern United States produces more than 90% of the country's hardwood inventory.

How many different kinds of trees are there in the United States? More than 800 species and varieties of trees make up the forests which cover 5 geographically identified areas.

What are these geographic areas?

• The Northern or Eastern Hardwood Forest which includes the mountains between New York and Georgia, known as the Appalachian Hardwood Region.

• The Central Hardwood Forest extends through the central part of the country as far west as the Great Plains, north to the Lake States and south into Tennessee.

• The Southern Forest contains most of the southeastern states, along the Atlantic Coast to Maryland, up the Missippi River to Illinois and west into Texas.

• The Rocky Mountain Forest extends from Canada to Mexico, covering the slopes of the Rocky Mountains.

• The Pacific Coast Forest extends from Canada to Mexico on the western side of the Rocky Mountains.

How much forest is there in the United States? There are more than 753 million acres in forests, nearly three quareters as much as when the first settlers arrived in this country.

What is the per capita consumption of trees? On average, the equivalent of a 100-foot tree is consumed by each man, woman and child in the United States each year.

When did forestry as a science come into being in the United States? In 1893, George Vanderbilt hired a young German forester, Carl Albert Schenck, to manage his estate in western North Carolina. Two young men on neighboring estates, Overton Price and E.M. Griffith, asked for permission to learn the profession of forestry from Schenck. It is generally agreed that these two gentlemen were the first foresters trained in this country.

Source: Lessons in Appalchian Forestry, Appalachian Hardwood Manufacturers, Inc., 1997