Forest Products

This slide show can be used as a stand alone resource or to support the activity “We All Need Trees” in the Project Learning Tree PreK-8 Environmental Education Activity Guide. If you received a Virginia Grown bag at the VAST Conference, there is a printed copy of the activity in the bag.

Part One: Where do trees grow? How many different products come from trees?

Trees can’t grow everywhere. 31% of the land on earth is forested.

Forests cover 33% of the land area of the United States.

Virginia has abundant, diverse forests.

Forests are a renewable resource. Virginia’s forests provide: Clean air and water Scenic beauty Fish and wildlife habitat Recreational opportunities Carbon sequestration Mitigation of global climate change $17 billion in forest products annually 104,000 jobs Forest products are an important part of Virginia’s economy.

What do we make out of trees in Virginia? 27% of industrial facilities in Virginia manufacture forest products. We have approximately:  129 sawmills  170 furniture plants  55 millwork plants  8 plywood, particleboard, OSB and other panel mills  55 pallet plants  27 treating plants  8 pulp and paper mills  100 paper products plants  8 pellet plants

Logs and Lumber

Paper Products

Containers

Structural Wood Panels

Pallets

Posts and Poles

Animal bedding and litter products Soil conditioners, amendments, mulches Landscape decorative products Packing material Chips, Shavings & Excelsior, Sawdust, Bark, and Pine Straw

Animal Bedding

Kudzu Honeysuckle Tree of Heaven Paulownia Bamboo Red Cedar Oriental Bittersweet Invasive/Specialty Products

Burls Walking canes Turning wood Wood carving Taxidermy mounts Art projects Custom Furniture Decorative Wood

Hemlock Lichens Oak wood and bark Willow Pine needles Leaves of cattails, rushes, sedges Vines of honeysuckle and Virginia creeper Kudzu Weaving and Dyeing Materials

Decorative cones for floral, wreath and potpourri products Seed cones for tree nurseries Price per pound varies from $0.15- $0.75/pound Cones and Seeds

Christmas trees, tips, greenery, boughs, holly, mistletoe, Native tree transplants (balled & burlapped)- rhododendron, dogwood, magnolia Bark moss, Galax, grapevines, Spanish moss Greenery, Transplants, Floral Products

Balsam fir Birch Cedar leaf Hemlock Sassafras Spruce Cedar wood Wintergreen Aromatic Oils

Culinary uses – Herbs and spices - St. John’s wort – Edible greens, roots, or tubers- wild garlic, sassafras Medicinal and Pharmaceutical – Roots – Mayapple - pain killer – Herbs - chickweed - iron – Leaves – wintergreen - flavoring – Buds – rosehips - Vitamin C Medicinals and Pharmaceuticals

Maple syrup Maple sugar Birch beer Sarsaparilla Sassafras tea Black Cherry Syrup, Flavorings, etc.

Apples Autumn Olive Black cherry Blackberry Blueberry Chokeberry Crabapple Elderberry Gooseberry Huckleberry Mayhaw Mulberry Pawpaw Persimmon Plum Prickly Pear Cactus Staghorn sumac Fruit for humans and wildlife

Varieties – sourwood, tupelo, yellow poplar Candles & Crafts Food Medicines Honey, beeswax, bee pollen

Cultivated – Shiitake – Matsutake – Chanterelle – Oyster Wild harvested – Chanterelle – Morels – Matsutake – Oyster Mushrooms for food source

Beechnut Butternut Chestnut Golden chinquapin Hazelnut Hickory Pecan Persimmon Walnut Pine nuts Acorns Nuts for food source

Apple Bigleaf maple Cherry Hickory Mesquite Oak Sugar maple Cooking wood, smoke wood, charcoal, flavor wood

Biomass Energy Longwood University’s biomass heating plant Dominion’s Pittsylvania power station

Wood Pellets

Natural Hardwood Charcoal

Sawdust Chemical Additives Granular Powder Extruded Pellets Structured Honeycomb Activated Carbon In Covington, MWV converts sawdust into the activated carbon which is found in the carbon canisters of 100% of American vehicles and 90% of European vehicles. Energy +

Chemicals and Nano-Fibers

What are nano-fibers? Videos on noncellulose are here: and a slide show here: What types of chemicals come from trees? Browse through the Specialty Chemicals section of this website, to see an amazing array of chemical products manufactured from trees. provides an overview of a wide variety of product categories, including chemicals.

Part Two: How much wood do we have in Virginia?

Forest Inventory & Analysis Program The US Forest Service and the Virginia Department of Forestry work together to assess and monitor the condition of the forests in our state. There are 4600 permanent research plots that have been sampled 9 times since Survey results can be found here:

Forest Growth (Volume of All Live Trees on Timberland) Volume (Billion cu. ft.) Since 1940, total live tree volume has more than doubled.

Tree growth exceeds harvest in Virginia.

Virginia Forestland Acres

So what can we do? Learn everything we can about the natural world and the resources we use. Learn how to conserve our use of natural resources with our everyday choices. and…

Plant more trees!

More information on forest products at: National PLT Website Virginia PLT Website Questions? Contact Lisa Deaton