New York state is 61% forested - forests cover 18.6 million acres of our 30.2 million total acres. Much of this land is privately owned and managed for wood or pulp. Most of the land owned by the State is forested.
DEC's Division of Lands and Forests cares for and manages nearly five million acres of land including the Adirondack and Catskill Forest Preserve, State Forests, Unique Areas and the State Nature and Historic Preserve, and Conservation Easements. The majority of these properties provide recreation opportunities for the public.
New York's forests are also important economic resources. According to Cornell University, the forest industry employs more than 60,000 people and directly contributes some $4.6 billion to the state's economy each year.
Protecting and enhancing our forests benefits individuals, local communities and industries, and the state as a whole.
Get into the forest for your health. Read about the benefits of forests on human health.
New York's Forests at a Glance
New York Land Area: 30.2 million acres. State Population: 19.4 million
- New York State forest area: 18.6 million acres, 61% of land area, about one acre per resident
- Publicly-owned forest land: at least 3.7 million acres
- Privately-owned forest land area: 14.4 million acres; 76% of forest land; owned by 687,000 landowners
- Number of tree species: more than 100 commercial and non-commercial
- Most common forest type: maple/beech/birch (53% of forest land area)
Economic Importance of New York's Forests and Harvest Information
- $300 million in annual payments to private landowners
- 488 million board feet of logs
- 2.1 million green tons pulpwood and wood chips
- 25% of New York timber harvest is exported for processing
- Economic contribution of forest products-related manufacturing and services: $14 billion (US Census)
- Forest-related tourism: $1.9 billion
Why Forests are Important
Forests cover 31% of total global land area.
- Forests are home to 300 million people around the world.
- Forests house 80% of our terrestrial biodiversity.
- The livelihood of over 1.6 billion people depends on forests.
- Approximately 60 million people, mainly members of indigenous and local communities, reside in forests.
- Forests store more than 1 trillion tons of carbon.
- Over 40% of the world's oxygen is produced by rainforests.
- More than 1/4 of modern medicines originate from tropical forest plants.
- 32.5 million acres (roughly the size of NY State) of forest continue to be lost worldwide per year.
- Deforestation accounts for 12 to 20% of the global greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.
- The five most forest-rich countries (Russia, Brazil, Canada, United States of America, and China) account for more than half of the total forest area in the world.
- More than 60 million people are employed by forest-based industries. The annual value of wood removed from forests is estimated to be more than $100 billion.
