Table 1.―Annual estimates, uncertainty, and change

Figure 1.―Area of forest land and timberland by year.

Figure 2.―Area of forest land by size class and top six 

forest types.

Pennsylvania’s Forest Resources, 2012 Research Note NRS-185

This publication provides an overview of forest resource attributes for Pennsylvania based on an annual inventory 

conducted by the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program at the Northern Research Station of the U.S. Forest 

Service. These annual estimates, along with web-posted core tables, will be updated annually. For more information 

please refer to page 4 of this report.

1

Note: When available, sampling errors and bars provided in the 

figures and tables represent a 68 percent confidence interval. 

Figure 3.―Area of timberland by stand size class and 

year.

Estimate 

(2012)

Sampling 

error (%)

Change(%) 

since 2007

Forest Land Estimates

Area (1,000 acres) 16,749 0.7 0.8

Number of live trees > 1-inch 

diameter (million trees) 8,169 1.7 -1.7

Dry biomass of live trees > 1-inch 

diameter (1,000 tons) 1,052,863 1.0 4.7

Net volume of live trees > 5-inch 

diameter (million ft3

) 36,886 1.1 5.2

Annual net growth of live trees > 

5-inch diameter (1,000 ft3

/year) 855,094 3.0 0.9

Annual mortality of live trees 

(1,000 ft3

/year) 322,658 4.0 0.8

Annual harvest removals of live 

trees (1,000 ft3

/year) 386,603 7.2 -7.3

Annual other removals of live trees 

(1,000 ft3

/year) 12,703 27.3 -52.7

Timberland Estimates

Area (1,000 acres) 16,245 0.8 1.1

Number of growing-stock trees > 

5-inch diameter (million trees) 7,967 1.8 -1.8

Dry Biomass of live trees > 

1-inch diameter (1,000 tons) 1,017,495 1.1 4.7

Net volume of live trees > 5-inch 

diameter (million ft3

) 35,631 1.2 5.1

Net volume of growing-stock trees 

(million ft3

) 32,590 1.2 2.3

Annual net growth of growingstock trees (1,000 ft3

/year) 741,151 3.1 0.1

Annual mortality of growing-stock 

trees (1,000 ft3

/year) 236,496 4.5 1.9

Annual harvest removals of 

growing-stock trees(1,000 ft3

/year) 328,114 7.4 -6.8

Annual other removals of growingstock trees (1,000 ft3

/year) 32,439 26.3 -45.3
Table 2.―Top 10 species by statewide volume estimates 2012

2

Figure. 4.―Area of forest land (acres) by major owner group, 2012.

501,758 133,446

3,812,199

534,239

11,767,482

National Forest

Other federal

State

Local and Municipal

Private

1 Red maple 6,738.9 2.6 3.2 16,507.2 3.7 8.0

2 Black cherry 4,026.6 3.9 11.7 12,838.1 5.2 14.9

3 Northern red oak 3,598.9 3.9 6.1 14,395.8 4.5 10.8

4 Sugar maple 2,683.9 4.8 4.9 8,117.3 6.0 14.7

5 Chestnut oak 2,520.3 4.4 -2.7 6,802.4 5.2 0.9

6 Eastern hemlock 1,904.9 5.8 8.8 5,562.0 6.7 12.7

7 Yellow-poplar 1,772.7 7.6 16.0 7,684.5 8.5 23.8

8 White ash 1,747.8 5.1 3.1 5,473.7 6.9 5.7

9 White oak 1,612.4 5.3 -1.5 5,458.3 6.5 2.4

10 Sweet birch 1,559.4 4.6 8.5 2,885.4 6.6 7.5

11 Other softwood species 1,656.7 6.6 7.4 5,410.5 7.6 11.7

12 Other hardwood species 7,063.1 2.3 3.7 19,640.3 3.3 10.0

13 All species 36,885.7 1.1 5.2 110,775.7 1.6 10.4

Change 

(%) 

since 

2007

Volume of live 

trees on forest 

land (million 

ft3

)

Change 

(%) 

since 

2007 

Volume of 

sawtimber trees on 

timberland (million 

bdft)

Rank Sampling 

error 

(%)

Sampling 

error 

(%)

Species
3

Pennsylvania’s Valuable Hardwoods

Pennsylvania forests consist of a large group of economically valuable tree species. The 10 most valuable 

hardwood species are found in large numbers and make up the majority of the volume in the Commonwealth 

(Fig. 5 density and Table 2 volume). Red maple (1.5 billion trees) and black cherry have the greatest number of 

trees >1-inch diameter at breast height (d.b.h.) (Fig. 5) and contain the greatest volume (Table 2). Beech 

surpasses northern red oak and sugar maple in the number of trees >1-inch d.b.h. (Fig. 5), but because the 

number of commercial-size trees >11 inches d.b.h. is less than a third of northern red oak and sugar maple 

numbers, this species has less commercial value (Fig. 6). Northern red oak, chestnut oak, and white oak 

contain more than 7,700 million cubic feet of wood (Table 2). In practice, chestnut oak is sold as white oak in 

the marketplace because of its similar wood properties and quantity, but it generally produces twice the number 

of cull trees as white oak (Fig.7).

Figure 5. – Top “nine” most valuable hardwoods minus red maple, 2004-2012.

Figure 6.―Number of trees of commercial size, 2004-

2012.

Figure 7.―Number of commercial-size trees in percent, 

by tree class, 2012.
Bechtold, W.A.; Patterson, P.L. 2005. The enhanced Forest Inventory and Analysis Program: national sampling 

design and estimation procedures. Gen. Tech. Rep. SRS-80. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest 

Service, Southern Research Station. 85 p.

Marquis, David A., ed. 1994. Quantitative silviculture for hardwood forests of the Alleghenies. Gen. Tech. Rep. NE183. Radnor, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Northeastern Forest Experiment Station. 143 p.

Smith, W.B. 2002. Forest inventory and analysis: a national inventory and monitoring program. Environmental 

Pollution. 116: 233-242.

USDA Forest Service. 2009. Forest inventory and analysis national core field guide, Vol. 1, field data collection 

procedures for Phase 2 plots, Ver. 5.0. Available at www.fia.fs.fed.us/library/field-guides-methods-proc (accessed 

July 2009). 

FIA Program Information

McCaskill, G.L.; McWilliams, W.H.; Barnett, C.J. 2013. Pennsylvania’s forest resources, 2012. Res. Note. NRS-185. 

Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station. 4 p.

Citation for this Publication

4

Additional Pennsylvania Inventory Information

Alerich, C.A. 1993. Forest statistics for Pennsylvania--1978 and 1989. Res. Bull. NE-126. Radnor, PA: U.S. Department 

of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Forest Experiment Station. 244 p.

Widmann, R.H. 1995. Forest Resources of Pennsylvania. Res. Bull. NE-131. Radnor, PA: U.S. Department of 

Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Forest Experiment Station. 41 p.

McWilliams, W.H.; Cassell, S.P.; Alerich, C.L.; Butler, B.J.; Hoppus, M.L.; Horsley, S.B.; Lister, A.J.; Lister, T.W.; Morin, 

R.S.; Perry, C.H.; Westfall, J.A.; Wharton, E.H;. Woodall, C.W. 2007. Pennsylvania’s Forests 2004. Resour. Bull. NRS20. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station. 86 p.

McCaskill, G.L.; McWilliams, W.H.; Alerich, C.A.; Butler, B.J.; Crocker, S.J.; Domke, G.M.; Griffith, D.; Kurtz, C.M.; 

Lehman, S.; Lister, T.W.; Morin, R.S.; Moser, W.K.; Roth, P.; Riemann, R.; Westfall, J.A. 2013. Pennsylvania’s Forests 

2009. Resour. Bull. NRS-82. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research 

Station. 52 p.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, 

color, national origin, age, disability, and where applicable, sex, marital status, familial status, parental status, religion, 

sexual orientation, genetic information, political beliefs, reprisal, or because all or part of an individual’s income is derived 

from any public assistance program (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require 

alternate means for communication of program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA’s 

TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TDD). To file a complaint of discrimination, write to USDA, Director, Office of 

Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, DC 20250-9410, or call (800)795-3272 (voice) or (202)720-

6382 (TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

Contact Information Pennsylvania Analyst: George L. McCaskill 610-557-4045 georgemccaskill@fs.fed.us

Data Acquisition / web sites: Charles J. Barnett, 610-557-4031, cjbarnett@fs.fed.us

Website: fiatools.fs.fed.us