Forest Products

Access Penn State Extension’s resources to further develop your forest product expertise. Learn more about the forest products industry and explore the best production and marketing methods for maple syrup, lumber, biofuels, ginseng, and more.

Wood Forest Products

In the forest products industry, wood-based products play a significant economic role. In fact, nearly 70% of all trees harvested in Pennsylvania are used to produce lumber. The majority of it comes from hardwood trees, such as white ash, black cherry, and red oak. Lumber from hardwood trees is used to produce a variety of products, including furniture, flooring, and musical instruments.

Wood is an incredibly versatile material that can also be found in paper and paper products, engineered wood products, and some chemicals. What’s more, wood can be utilized as a fuel to give off heat or generate electricity.

To ensure a continuous flow of products, sound forest management is needed. Understanding species requirements will further help guide forest development through harvests designed and timed to weed and thin the forest, as well as establish the next crop and maximize financial returns.

Explore Penn State Extension educational resources to learn more about lumber and forest products. Join the Valuing Standing Timber course to discover how to obtain fair market pricing when selling timber. In addition, the five-day Oak SILVAH Training will provide you with valuable hands-on knowledge on applying SILVAH techniques and marking stands for crop tree release and thinning.

Non-Wood Forest Products

Forests have considerable potential in providing a number of different non-wood products. These may include natural materials, medicinal herbs, and edibles, such as mushrooms, berries, and nuts.

Many medicinal plants can be high-value crops if the correct soil type and structure are present. Ginseng, for instance, is a very valuable crop that has fairly stringent growing requirements. The crop requires at least 70% shade, as well as moist, well-drained soil. Learn more about the cultivation and harvesting of ginseng and other botanicals in the Botanical Forest Products section.

Another popular non-timber forest product in the Northeast and northern Midwest regions is maple syrup. According to the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), maple syrup production in the US averages more than 1.3 million gallons annually, of which 60,000 gallons are produced in PA. During the Getting Started in Maple Syrup workshop, learn all there is about maple syrup production – from identifying trees to filtering the final product.