Forest Products

Building an economy

Besides their beauty and importance to the environment, our forests are an essential driver to the world’s economy.

But our forests also provide ingredients for a multitude of other products. In fact, you’ll be surprised by many of the products that depend on materials from our forests for their creation.

Click here to see some of the surprising products that come from our forests (PDF).

Getting the most out of the resource

Wow! Here are some unexpected products that depend on our forests:

• Pharmaceuticals
• Clothing (Rayon)
• Charcoal
• Insulation
• Milk cartons
• Solvents
• Deodorants
• Shoe polish
• Garden mulch
• Toothpaste
• Photographic film
• Antacids
• Caplet coatings
• 
  … and much more.

In fact, wood products make up 47% of all raw materials manufactured in North America. And opting for other raw materials for many of these products means substituting wood products with petroleum, aluminum, and other materials that are non-renewable and often require processing and extraction techniques that are environmentally harmful.

Tomorrow’s foresters will be looking for even more ways to get maximum value out of our forests. It only makes sense – when we make every possible use of the resource, we strengthen the entire system, create more and better paying jobs, and can feel good about doing a great job of managing our forests.