Forest Industry in Vermont   Programs: Industry Assistance Forest Statistics For Vermont Wood Energy   Publications: Economic Importance of Vermont's Forests Forest Exchange Bulletin Forest Resource Harvest Summary Industry Directories   Personnel: Staff

A picture of Vermont taken today from a satellite would show a heavily forested state with dense forests straddling the spine of the Green Mountains. Accept in the Champlain Valley, only tiny ribbons of farmland along the state’s major rivers, and the occasional “hill farm” break the forest cover.

Our great-grandparents would hardly recognize the Vermont we have become so accustomed to; many of the hay fields, pastures, barns and homes of their youth are all but memories today. In their place, stand forests of tall white pine, sugar maple, white ash and red oak.

One of the key tools for assessing the health and sustainability of Vermont’s forests is the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) conducted by the US Forest Service. The latest inventory, conducted in 1997, found that Vermont’s forests contain over 117 million cords of wood, an average of over 26 cords per acre. Since 1966, the average diameter of these trees has increased from 8.3 to 9.16 inches (diameter breast height), and the average number of trees per acre has increased from 170 to 187 (trees 5”or larger in diameter).

The FIA not only monitors growth, but also assesses the level of removals from forests to calculate a “growth-to-removals ratio”. Net growth is the total growth of trees plus gains from land coming into forest, minus losses to mortality from insect and disease outbreaks, and disturbances such as wind or ice storms. Removals include harvesting as well as losses due to land use change. Since 1948, the net growth of trees has exceeded removals. In fact, about twice as much wood has been grown as was cut or otherwise removed!

For more information on the Forest Inventory and Analysis Program and the state of Vermont’s forests, check out the documents and links below:

Forests of the Green Mountain State; A Half-Century of Change, USDA Forest Service, NE-INF-142-01.

The Forests of the Green Mountain State, USDA Forest Service, Resource Bulletin NE-158. 2003.

VT Forest Inventory & Analysis, 1997 Statistical Tables -

VT Forest Resource Harvest Summary 2005

VT Forest Resource Harvest Summary 2004

VT Forest Resource Harvest Summary 2003

VT Forest Resource Harvest Summary 2002

Species Distribution Maps

Forest Inventory and Analysis