Forest Resources of the United States
About the Forest Resources of the United States
The Forest Resources of the United States report is a long-running series of forest resource statistics released every 10 years, with interim updates every five years to support Resources Planning Act (RPA) Assessments. All editions report the extent, distribution, ownership, composition, changes, and overall health of the nation’s forests.
Resources Planning Act Assessment reports on forest resources and associated forest land projections have relied on data from the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Nationwide Forest Inventory. FIA data are harmonized and updated in each Forest Resources of the United States report by the FIA program to meet evolving RPA data reporting needs. Beginning in 2007, the series expanded to include insights from FIA's National Woodland Owner Survey, FIA's National Resource Use Monitoring surveys, other FIA programmatic components, and Forest Health Monitoring to present a more complete view of ecological conditions, forest health, and landowner objectives. Complete 10-year assessments often include external information related to forest economics, timber use dynamics, wildlife habitat and fragmentation information, and individual case studies or research that add richness and detail to the broader picture of our dynamic forest landscape.
The Forest Resources of the United States series extends one of the longest running records of forest conditions in the world that began with early timber-centric reports. The forest statistics reports that began with the 1989 RPA Assessment have documented changes across all 50 states and affiliated islands and territories.
Explore the latest Forest Resources of the United States Report
Forest Resources of the United States, 2022 updates previous reports with harmonized Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) data; however, the RPA Assessment has not adopted the definition of forest land used by FIA since 2013. Resource data tables present estimates of changes in forest area, volume, mortality, growth, removals, timber products output, and more since 1953.
Forest land is defined currently within the Forest Resources Report as “a land use category that includes areas at least 120 feet (36.6 m) wide and at least 1 acre (0.4 ha) in size with at least 10 percent cover (or equivalent stocking) by live trees including land that formerly had such tree cover and that will be naturally or artificially regenerated. Trees are woody plants having a more or less erect perennial stem(s) capable of achieving at least 3 inches (7.6 cm) diameter at breast height, or 5 inches (12.7 cm) diameter at root collar, and a height of 16.4 feet (5 m) at maturity in situ. Forest land includes all areas recently having such conditions and currently regenerating or capable of attaining such condition soon. Forest land also includes transition zones, such as areas between forest and nonforest lands, that have at least 10 percent cover (or equivalent stocking) with live trees and forest areas adjacent to urban and built-up lands. Unimproved roads and trails, streams, and clearings in forest areas are classified as forest if they are less than 120 feet (36.6 m) wide or 1 acre (0.4 ha) in size. However, land is not classified as forest land if it is completely surrounded by urban or developed lands, even if the criteria are consistent with the tree area and cover requirements for forest land. These areas are classified as settlements. In addition, forest land does not include land that is predominantly under an agricultural land use.”
Landscapes that do not meet the in-situ height requirement are considered by this report to be a sub-category of forest land called “woodland.” FIA forest lands are categorized as woodland if they meet four criteria at the most recent measurement: 1) Average plot-level tree height is less than 5 meters; 2) Forest-type groups are Pinyon/juniper or woodland hardwoods; 3) Plots occur in specific ecological provinces classified as steppe and shrub, semidesert, and desert; and 4) Sites have a productivity class of less than 20 cubic-feet per acre per year. Because woodland is considered in this report to be a sub-category of FIA forest land, readers would sum the values for forest and woodland area provided in this report when comparing results with forest land in FIA state reports. More information about defining forest land may be found in the publication, Forest definitions applied for national United States forest reporting: Status, gaps, and opportunities.
The Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 (Public Law 93–378; 16 U.S.C. 1600, et seq., as amended) called for a “Renewable Resource Assessment” prepared every ten years, beginning in 1975—this assessment came to be called the Resources Planning Act (RPA) Assessment. The legislation provided a list of expected products, beginning with “an analysis of present and anticipated uses, demand for, and supply of renewable resources, with consideration of the international resource situation, and an emphasis of pertinent supply and demand and price relationship trend…”, and including rural and urban forestry opportunities to mitigate carbon dioxide buildup and the potential effects of climate on the condition of renewable resources. The Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Research Act of 1978 (Public Law 93–378; 16 U.S.C. 1642, et seq., as amended) further required the Secretary of Agriculture to “…make and keep current a comprehensive survey and analysis of the present and prospective conditions of and requirements for renewable resources of the forests and rangelands of the US and of the supplies of such renewable resources…”. The Forest Resources of the United States report serves as the USDA Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis program’s contribution to the Resources Planning Act Assessment, providing the baseline forest inventory data that Assessment authors use to project future renewable forest resource conditions. The Forest Resources of the United States report also has been used to help support the US reporting to UN FAO’s Global Forest Resource Assessment.
Links to earlier Forest Resources of the United States reports focused on forest sector statistics are below. Because both data quality and methodological approaches change over time, findings from one report may not be fully comparable to those of another report. Each new report updates historical estimates to reflect methodological changes, so comparisons over time need to focus only the latest report.
The forest resource statistics in this report contributed to the 2020 Resources Planning Act Assessment. Accompanying resource tables present estimates of changes in forest area, volume, mortality, growth, removals, and timber-product output since 1953. Additional analyses explore resources from ecological, health, and productivity perspectives.
To analyze the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) data used in this report, refer to the Forest Service Research Data Archive. If you wish to explore FIA data in EVALIDator using the same definition of forest land applied in the 2020 RPA Assessment, select the radio button labeled ‘Use RPA definition of forestland’ on the second page of the query tool. Note that data used in the Forest Resources Report are aggregated at specific points in time and at specific spatial scales before estimates are calculated; therefore, data extracted from EVALIDator will approximate but not exactly match the estimates reported in the FRR.
This report updated forest resource statistics from the 2010 Resources Planning Act Assessment. Accompanying tables present estimates of changes in forest area, volume, mortality, growth, removals, and timber product output since 1953. Additional analyses explore resources from ecological, health, and productivity perspectives.
Forest Resources of the United States, 2007
The forest resource statistics in this report contributed to the 2010 Resources Planning Act Assessment. Accompanying tables present estimates of changes in forest area, volume, mortality, growth, removals, and timber product output since 1953. Additional analyses explore resources from ecological, health, and productivity perspectives. A mini atlas also includes national displays of forest type, ownership, biomass, fragmentation, and other spatial elements.
Forest Resources of the United States, 2002
This report updates resource statistics published in the Forest Resources of the United States, 1997 report. For brevity and balance in presenting reporting periods in tabular outputs, report authors omitted Resources Planning Act Assessment data from 1963, 1970, and 1992. To provide a context for evaluating and interpreting changes in the forest resource, data for 1953, 1963 (some tables), 1977, 1987, and 1997 are included.
Forest Resources of the United States, 1997
The Forest Statistics of the United States, 1987 was updated to 1997 to provide current information on the Nation’s forests. Accompanying tables present estimates of changes in forest area, volume, mortality, growth, removals, and timber product output since 1953. Report authors also analyzed current resource data to provide trends since 1987. An accompanying fold-out forest type map produced from satellite imagery provides a visual display of the location of forest land.
Forest resources of the United States, 1992
This report updated forest resource statistics from the 1987 Resources Planning Act Assessment to 1992. Accompanying tables present estimates of changes in forest area, volume, mortality, growth, removals, and timber product output since 1953. Report authors also analyzed resource data trends since 1987.
Forest statistics of the United States, 1987
This was the first Forest Resource Statistics report focused on using Forest Inventory and Analysis program data. This report summarized forest resource data collected from periodic surveys in each state and Forest Service region. Partially summarized data tables were presented alongside this report on compact disc, introducing a novel pathway to provide FIA data directly to users. Accompanying tables include information on area, volume, removals, and timber product outputs.
Please visit the Pre-1989 RPA Assessment Documents to access historical forest and timber assessments.