OutdoorMN News - Minnesota DNR celebrates National Forest Products Week

[Rick]

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, along with the nation, celebrates National Forest Products Week, Oct.16-22, by bringing attention to the vast array of products forests provide. 

“Every day we use Minnesota forest products in our lives — like paper, lumber or energy generated from forest biomass,” said Kristen Bergstrand, coordinator of the DNR’s Forest Utilization and Marketing Program. “National Forest Products Week celebrates America’s forests, the products they provide and the local economies they help support.”

Everything from the trunk and limbs to sap, leaves and needles of a tree are used to make consumer products. When a tree is harvested, another tree or two is grown in its place. When people use tree products — such as lumber, paper, mulch, cosmetics, energy and even Christmas trees — they encourage sustainability by choosing products made from a renewable resource that also supports the local economy, Bergstrand said.

Minnesota is home to 17.3 million acres of forests. Purchasing wood products made in Minnesota supports jobs and family forest owners by bringing money into rural areas. Nearly 300 Minnesota cities sell goods and services to the forest products industry. Statewide forest products manufacturing facilities sustain and enrich local communities by providing jobs, taxes and infrastructure. The forest products industry is Minnesota’s fifth largest manufacturing sector by employment. It provides over $16 billion in economic impact and creates 62,800 jobs.

Thirty percent of all wood fiber in Minnesota comes from DNR-administered forest lands. This wood fiber is used primarily to make paper, pulp, engineered wood products, lumber, pallets, animal bedding, biomass energy and specialized cellulose for products like clothing.

“This week, please join in celebrating the many benefits of forest products in Minnesota — choose products made from trees,” Bergstrand said. “It is good for the environment. It is good for Minnesotans. It is good for the nation.”

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