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Forest Products
Forest Products Links
Sector Profile
The forest products sector includes companies engaged in growing, harvesting and processing wood and wood fiber, manufacturing pulp, paper and paperboard products from both virgin and recycled fiber, and producing engineered and traditional wood products. In 2007 the forest products industry accounted for more than 5% of total US manufacturing value added and employed almost 1 million people and ranks among the top ten manufacturing employers in 42 states (AF&PA, March 2003). Annual shipments totaled $241 billion in 2002 (DOE).
Environmental Impact
Forest Products Industry processes create substantial environmental impacts to air, water and land. The sector is the third largest industrial consumer of fossil energy among US manufacturing sectors (DOE 1998),and one the largest industrial users of water (EPA 1995).
For a more detailed profile of the industry and its impacts, please read the Profile of the Pulp and Paper Industry (2002) and the Profile of the Lumber and Wood Products Industry (1995) sector notebooks.
You can read the Forest Products chapter in the Sector Strategies Performance Report.
Working With the Industry
The U.S. EPA Sector Strategies Program is working in partnership with the American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) to promote environmental improvement, overcome regulatory barriers to performance improvement, and measure environmental progress in the forest products industry. AF&PA represents more than 200 companies and related trade associations that engage in or represent the manufacture of pulp, paper, paperboard and wood products.