WASHINGTON, DC—The USDA Forest Service has released its 2020 National Report on Sustainable Forests. This report tracks forest sustainability trends over time and offers an information base for fostering dialogue and evidence-based decision-making with forest sector stakeholders, international partners and others.

According to the 2020 report, forest land area in the U.S. has increased slightly over the past century and forests continue to serve as the largest national net carbon sink. However, disturbances such as drought, wildfire and pest outbreaks significantly impact forest carbon storage and emissions.

Indeed, forests in several western states now emit more carbon than they store. These disturbances, as well as maintenance backlogs, also constrain forest recreation. Forest conversion, alteration of native habitats, and introduction and spread of nonnative species are contributing to the growing list of forest species considered to be at risk of extinction.

Nationally, forests grow more wood than is harvested or lost to mortality. The wood products industry rebounded following the 2007-2009 Great Recession, particularly in the South, though overall employment in forestry, logging, wood products and paper products declined by 41% between 1990 and 2020.

Non-timber forest products and other forest-based ecosystem services have grown into important sources of revenue, although wood production remains below its peak and consumption of wood and paper products has decreased.

Sustainable forest management is pursued in the U.S. through an expanding range of legal, institutional and economic approaches developed and applied across multiple scales, ownerships and actors. These approaches increasingly rely on forest-focused collaborations and partnerships that share a common recognition of the importance of forest restoration, wildfire risk reduction, multiple uses and local forest-based livelihoods.

The Forest Service Research & Development Inventory, Monitoring and Assessment Research staff area develop the report by applying the Montreal Process Criteria and Indicators for the Conservation and Sustainable Management of Temperate and Boreal Forests. The agency’s report offers a summary update of performance against this internationally agreed framework. It is the fourth in a series of U.S. assessments going back to 1997.

Analyses in support of the National Report on Sustainable Forests are coordinated closely with the Forest Service Resources Planning Act Assessment and the Forest Inventory and Analysis program to promote consistency across agency reporting efforts.

The indicator briefs and the National Report on Sustainable Forests are available here.