Download Our Forests and Their Products

Our Forests and Their
Products
Our Forests
Forest is a very complex community of
associated trees, shrubs, other plants,
and animals. In this community, all
members interact with each other and
play some part in the complex system.
A forest is a balanced ecosystem where
plants take what they need from the soil
and sunlight than contribute back to the
ecosystem
The Forest As Enemy
When settlers first arrived in Jamestown
they had to set up a reliable food source,
this was done by cutting down trees and
pushing the forest back so they had
room for farming.
The Forest As Friend
The wood from cutting down the trees
was used to make houses, ships, burn
for heat in the winter
Small game along with fruits and berries
were found in the forest and used for the
survival of the colonist
when colonist first arrived you could walk
from Maine to Texas and from Florida to
Minnesota without ever leaving the forest
Forest In America Today
In 2002 there was about 9.6 billion acres
of forest worldwide
It decreased by 23.2 million acres per
year from 1990 to 2000
In the US however the amount of forest
has remained very stable
from 1997 to 2002 it raised from 747
million acres to 749 million acres
We have relatively the same amount of
forest we had in 1920
U.S. forest growth exceeds amount
harvested every year since 1940
1/3 of forest in U.S. is referred to as noncommercial forestland, this area is 250
million acres
Its made up of swamps, very rough
mountainous land, parks, wilderness
preservation areas, game refuges, and
other areas where timber harvesting is
not economical or allowed
2/3 or 481 million acres is called
commercial forest
Just because its named that doesn’t
mean all of it is harvested
This includes small parcels: near homes
or in suburban areas, along highways,
streams, or lakes
That leaves only about 250 million acres
of actual commercial forestland
About 12 million acres of U.S. forest land
was converted from growing timber to
other uses during a recent 7 year period
279 million acres of commercial land is
owned by private individuals and this
forest falls into a category of not being
used for timber production
Government owns about 137 million
acres and once again not much of it is
used for timber production
The forest product industries own about
68 million acres that represents only 14
percent of total forestland but 27 percent
of forest land used for production
Forest Regions in the U.S.
860 species of trees many of these trees
will only grow in certain parts of the
country.
Climate, soil type, and altitude affect
kinds of trees that will grow in a given
location.
In U.S. there are 6 major forest regions
West Coast forests lie along the Pacific
Ocean from central california to the
Canadian border.
Species: douglas fir, coast red-wood,
western red cedar, sitka spruce, sugar
pine, lodgepole pine, incense cedar, port
orford cedar, white fir, red aider, and
bigleaf maple
These make up our softwood plywood
Western forests are found in the
mountainous regions from southwestern
Texas to Wyoming, to central
Washington, and northern California
Species: ponderosa pine, Idaho white
pine, sugar pine, douglas fir, engelmann
spruce, western larch, white fir, incense
cedar, lodgepole pine, western red cedar,
and aspen
Central hardwood forests run from parts
of New York State to northern Georgia,
west to Texas and north to Minnesota
Species: shortleaf pine, Virginia pine,
eastern white pine, red cedar, birch,
northern red oak, white oak, hickory, elm,
white ash, black walnut, sycamore,
cottonwood, yellow poplar, black gum, red
maple and sweet gum
Tropical forests are found in southern tips
of Florida and Texas.
Species: mahogany, mangrove, and bay
tree
Northern forests reach from Maine south
along the mountains to Georgia, also
cover parts of northern Michigan and
Minnesota
Species: eastern white pine, red spruce,
black spruce, white spruce, Norway pine,
jack pine, balsam fir, white cedar, tamarack,
eastern hemlock, aspen, beech, red oak,
white oak, yellow birch, paper birch,black
birch, black walnut, black cherry, black gum,
white ash, basswood, and sugar maple
Southern forests run from the coast of
Virginia to eastern Texas and north to
Missouri
Species: loblolly pine, longleaf pine,
shortleaf pine, slash pine, bald cypress,
sweet gum, black gum, Southern red oak,
white oak, pin oak, live oak, willow, yellow
poplar, cottonwood, white ash, hickory,
and pecan
4 forest regions in Alaska
and Hawaii
Coast forests lie along the southern cost
of Alaska: western hemlock, Sitka
spruce, western red cedar, and Alaska
yellow cedar
Interior forests of Alaska: white spruce,
black spruce, white birch, aspen, and
several poplars
West forests are found on the larger
islands of Hawaii: ohia, roa, tree fern,
ruikui, mamani eucalyptus,and tropical
ash
Dry forest appear on several of the larger
islands of Hawaii: alga-roba, roa haole,
wiliwili, and monkeypod
Trees and Their Growth
Trees are woody plants with single stems
They generally consist of three major
parts: roots, trunk and crown
Roots
the root system anchors the tree down,
collects nutrients and passes them up
the tree
roots also improve the structure, waterabsorbing and water holding capacities
of the soil
four types of roots: tap root, lateral roots,
fibrous roots, and deeply descending roots
roots grow in length and in diameter
just behind the growing tip of the root is an
area covered by very fine, delicate root
hairs, its the root hairs that absorb the
water and nutrients taken in by the root
system
Trunk
a mature tree trunk consists of five parts
Starting at the center of the trunk and
moving outward they are heartwood,
sapwood, cambium, inner bark, and
outer back
the tree grows in length by means of
rapidly dividing young cells in the terminal
bud on each branch and twig
heartwood consists of woody cells that are
dead, heartwood adds strength and
stiffness to the tree and in mature trees,
the heartwood makes it possible for the
tree to remain upright
The sapwood is more properly known as
the xylem layer
sapwood serves two major functions
First it is the part of the tree that
transports water and dissolved nutrients
upward from the roots to the leaves
second it provides a storage area for
much of the food that has been made in
the leaves through photosynthesis
The cambium is a thin layer of active
cells that divides to produce new cells
cells produced on the inside of the layer
will become sapwood, on the outside
they become inner back, and produced
from inside the middle of the layer is the
new cambium layer
inner bark dies and become outer bark as
new layers push out
in the spring new sapwood cells are soft
and round, they are called summerwood,
these cells show quick growth in the tree
and leave an annual ring that can be used
to determine the age of the tree
The annual ring can be read like a book
If the ring is wide than it was a good
growing season
If it is narrow you can assume that there
was drought, fire, or disease that year
and the tree didn’t get much growth
Crown
The crown includes branches, twigs,
buds, and leaves
This is where trees use photosynthesis
to produce their food
This is also where trees produce nuts,
berries, and fruits
The leaf is a chemical factory
It conducts water upward from the roots,
it takes in carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere, than in the presence of
sunlight converts all these things into
sugar in a process known as
photosynthesis
excess water from the tree is allowed to
evaporate through openings in the leaves
which is known as transpiration
Its also the process that makes air in a
forest cooler than air around the forest
during the summer
Light Requirements
Trees require different amounts of light,
they can be classified as shade-tolerant
or shade-intolerant
Shade-tolerant trees are those that grow
satisfactorily without complete direct
sunlight
Shade-intolerant trees do not fare well
without direct sunlight for at least part of
the day
The Forest Canopy
Forest can either be pure or mixed
pure is when all trees are the same
species
mixed is when there are many different
trees
Trees can be either even aged or all
aged
even aged forest mostly trees of a single
age and size
all aged forest will include tree in two or
more of the groupings: seedlings,
saplings, pole sized, mature, and veteran
The ceiling of the forest is called canopy
and is made up of the crowns of taller
trees
In relation to the canopy trees may be
dominant, codominant, intermediate, and
suppressed
Dominant: with a crown extending above
the general canopy level
codominant: with a crown in the general
canopy
intermediate: crown in general canopy but
with little direct sunlight
suppressed: poorly developed drown
below the canopy
Wood
Lumber can be shop and factory grade:
furniture, barrels, boxes, cabinets,
flooring, and millwork
Structural lumber includes joists, planks,
and laminated wood
Yard wood: boards and dimension and
finish lumber
Converted Wood
Converted wood is chemically or
mechanically changed
paper, pulp, wood fiber, charcoal,
explosives, plastics, rayon, cellulose,
photographic film, sausage cases, and
sponges
Climate Moderation
Trees do many things you don’t think of:
block the wind, quiet loud sounds,
produce nice smells, separate dust from
wind, and show early warning signs of
major pollution
Carbon Dioxide-Oxygen
Exchange
Photosynthesis is the main mechanism
by which carbon dioxide is removed from
the air and fresh oxygen is returned to
the atmosphere
Water and Soil conservation
Trees protect the soil better than any
other cover
trees roots hold soil in place the canopy
slows the rain down, the decaying plant
material on the floor holds in moisture
Wildlife and Recreation
Forests provide homes and food for
wildlife, including game animals, furbearing animals, fish, and game birds
They provide recreation, rest, solace,
quiet, and nature study for people