FACTS TO PONDER

Fact distributed by the U.S. Forest Service and others contain a variety of information worthy of consideration.  In part, these include the following:

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Nationwide 80% of the planned timber harvests, which account for less than 2 billion board feet, are under litigation by preservationist groups.
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More than 800 jobs have been directly related to the wood resources produced on the ANF over the past decade and a half with an estimated employment impact average of $40M annually.
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Fewer than one tenth of one percent of recreational visitor days (RVD) are spent in wilderness areas on the ANF.
bullet The Public's need for quality wood products continues to be high.  Laws such as the Multiple Use Sustained Yield Act of 1960 direct National Forests to provide wood within the capability of the land to meet public demand.
bullet Approximately 420,000 acres or 82% of the ANF has a management objective in the Forest Plan that calls for the harvest of trees.  Wood harvest primarily occurs on only 327,000 acres of 63% of the ANF.  
bullet The annual amount of wood that can be sold (Allowable Sale Quantity or ASQ) from the ANF while still maintaining a sustainable supply for the future is 94.5 MMBF (million board feet) in the current forest plan, later amended to 53.2 MMBF.
bullet The average acreage harvested annually on the ANF is only 7,011 acres.
bullet The timber harvest target for the current ANF management plan only reached 45% of its goal (1,000 MMBF or 1 billion board feet shy of the mark).
bullet The annual harvest for the past 25 years is 58 MMBF.
bullet The annual average harvest for the last five years is only 24.9 MMBF.
bullet The annual tree growth rate for the ANF is approximately 108 MMBF.
bullet The average American consumes nearly 800lbs of paper annually while wood use converts to three 15 inch trees per person per year.
bullet Over 10% of public lands in the Commonwealth are now kept in a wilderness state.
bullet 36% of the land in the four county region (Elk, Forest, McKean and Warren) is public owned.
bullet Black cherry sawtimber value hit an all-time high of $4,056 per thousand board feet in 1999.
bullet 30 wildlife species use early successional habitat (seedling/sapling, 0-19 years) exclusively while 10 wildlife species use mature forests (50-109 years old). 
bullet 84% of the ANF is mature while only 7% is early successional.
bullet The USFS budget for FY 2003 allocated $2.007B for Wildlands Fire Management and only $1.353B to manage the National Forest System.
bullet The amount of timber sold by the USFS to lumber companies fell 74% nationwide over the last 12 years.