Forestry Extension: Forest Facts

Forest cover in Missouri.

Ownership

Of the 44.1 million acres that make up Missouri, 14.5 million acres (32 percent) are forested.
Over 350,000 private landowners own about 12 million acres (85 percent) of Missouri’s forest acreage.

Nearly 3 out of every 4 trees you encounter in Missouri’s forests will either be an oak or a hickory.

One mature tree absorbs approximately 13 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.
For every ton of wood a forest grows, it removes 1.47 tons of carbon dioxide and replaces it with 1.07 tons of oxygen.
Forests and forest soils help improve water quality by filtering out impurities, including nutrients necessary for tree growth but potentially damaging to lakes or streams.
Trees help to hold soil in place, reducing erosion and preventing silt from washing into rivers, lakes, and streams and damaging organisms.
Forest soils soak up water and help control flooding by regulating water flow within a watershed.
Forests provide food, shelter, and space for thousands of animal species to live.

Missouri is home to over 450 primary wood product facilities producing lumber, crossties, wood chips, veneer and cants for secondary manufacturing facilities.
Another 700 or so secondary mills produce pallets, charcoal briquettes, barrels, furniture, cabinets, flooring, gunstocks and tool handles, just to name a few.
87 percent of the 2.1 million tons of residue (slabs, edging, sawdust, and bark) produced each year is used to produce charcoal, animal bedding, mulch, and fuel pellets.

Wood-using industries contribute about $4.7 billion a year to Missouri’s economy.
More than 34,600 Missourians are employed by the wood products and related industries and pay $700 million yearly in salaries.
The wood used by these producers is worth, conservatively, $133 million per year using stumpage prices (the amount paid to landowners for the right to harvest the logs).

Every Missourian uses the equivalent of a 100-foot tree every year (18 inches in diameter).
500 pounds of that tree will produce the paper used by that individual; 45 percent of which will be recycled.
Missouri's wood-using mills process about 140 million cubic feet of wood per year. Most of the wood came from Missouri's forests, with only 6 percent coming from other states.
The good news is that Missouri's forests are growing at a rate of greater than 267 million cubic feet per year, so the harvest of 140 million cubic feet is sustainable.
In 1950, we used only 70 percent of each tree harvested. Today, thanks to dramatic increases in recycling and technological improvements, we use 95 percent of each tree that we harvest.

In ancient times, certain trees were worshiped and in Greek mythology, the oak was sacred to Zeus. A similar belief of gods living in trees is also found in Celtic folklore. In both, it was believed that touching one of the sacred trees would bring good fortune. Thus, knocking on any wood became an action to bring good luck.