Wisconsin Forestry and Forest Products Industry - Highlights

• Wisconsin forests are the State's largest land cover and by far the State's largest land use. The 16 million acres of productive forest cover 46% of Wisconsin's land base.
• At a time when significant forest lands are being lost in other states, Wisconsin's forest lands have increased by 640,000 acres since 1985.
• Wisconsin continues to grow more wood than it removes. About 490 million cubic feet is grown each year, while only 332 million cubic feet is removed.
• Wisconsin's forests are meeting the wood needs of Wisconsin residents. It's estimated that Wisconsin residents consume 327 million cubic feet of wood annually, whereas we harvest 332 million cubic feet. Wisconsin is the only midwest state that harvests what it consumes.
• The forest products industries produces $20 Billion annually in products from the forests, which is 2.5 times as much as either of our neighboring states of Michigan and Minnesota.
• Wisconsin is the #1 paper making state in the nation and has been for 50 years.
• Wisconsin's forest products industry employs 1 in every 8 workers in manufacturing jobs. For every job in the forest products industry, an additional 1.6 jobs are created to support the industry.
• Wisconsin's forests support our valuable tourism and recreation economy, creating an additional $5.5 billion annually in forest-based recreation.
• Wisconsin ranks second in the nation in forest products capital investments, with over $800 million annually (20% of all Wisconsin manufacturing).
• Wisconsin's forest products and processing produced 8.1% ($22.6 billion) of the states total industrial output.
• Wisconsin has over 1,800 forest products companies.
• Wisconsin's forest products industry creates high paying jobs - average wages for forest industry jobs are $38,000 annually, compared to the state average of $30,000. Paper mill workers earns $49,000 annually.
• Wisconsin manufacturers depend on Wisconsin forestry. Over 90 % of the state's timber harvested is used by Wisconsin manufacturers.