Wood Products

Wood is the building material of choice for strength, aesthetic appeal and environmental responsibility. Wood is renewable, recyclable and reusable, and stores carbon. Moreover, it is less energy- and carbon-intensive to produce than competing materials like concrete and steel.

Wood is a globally-traded commodity that supports U.S. economic growth. The U.S. is one of the world's most diverse exporters of sustainable forest products, and in 2007 these exports reached $27.4 billion—10 percent of the industry's sales. Wood products manufacturing employed some 460,000 people in 2008, earning an estimated $22 billion annually in the United States. With approximately 1,000 wood products manufacturing facilities, and $70 billion in product shipments, wood products manufacturing is essential to the success of many communities nationwide.

AF&PA members have adopted a sustainable approach to harvesting wood and each year the forest products industry plants more than 600 million trees -- about 1.7 million trees per day and three trees for every one harvested. As a result, there are more forests in the U.S. today than there were 50 years ago.

Tabs on the left side of this page provide links to the American Wood Council, highlighting their technical efforts to support the broadest possible use of traditional and engineered wood products, and support the use of wood to achieve green building thresholds.