Tennessee's Forests, 2004

Forest land area in Tennessee amounted to 13.78 million acres. About 125 different species, mostly hardwood, account for an estimated 22.6 billion cubic feet of all growing-stock volume on timberland in the State. Hardwood forest types occupy the vast majority of the State's forest land, and oak-hickory is the dominant forest-type group, accounting for about 10.1 million acres. The majority of forest land in Tennessee is owned by nonindustrial private forest landowners, about 85 percent. About 15 percent of the forest land in the State is publicly administered by local, State, or Federal agencies. In 2004, more than 31,700 individuals were directly employed at wood processing mills, with a total annual payroll of 1 billion dollars. There is an enormous selection of nontimber forest products harvested from Tennessee forest land.