Graph: Annual Growth, Removals, and Mortality on National Forest Timberlands-1952-2011
This graph, using data from the U.S. Forest Service, shows timber harvests on national forests never exceeded net growth, even during the “peak’ harvesting years of the 1970s and 1980s. Yet it’s the latter years that tell an alarming story. Forest mortality levels now far exceed removals, and is getting closer to net forest growth.