CALIFORNIA
The BBER’s Forest Industry Research Program works throughout the Western United States doing a variety of research and data collection projects. This page will pull together information and data the program has compiled for the state of California.
Forest Products Industry and Timber Harvest Reports
In cooperation with the USDA Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program, the Bureau conducts a census of the primary forest industry in each state, collecting detailed information on the industry’s size, diversity and economic impacts.
California's Timber Harvest and Forest Products Industry, 2012 Poster presented at the 2014 Society of American Foresters annual Convention.
Timber Harvest
In cooperation with the Forest Service’s Pacific Northwest Research Station, the BBER has developed a new interactive tool allowing users to access timber harvest data at the county- and ownership-level. (click here)
Timber Processing Capacity
Pacific Coast Temperate Forest Regional Timber Product Flow Analysis
Pacific Coast Temperate Forest Regional Timber Product Flow Analysis (September 2023)
Impact of the Great Recession and Housing Collapse on the Forest Products Industry in the Western United States
Forest Products Journal (Vol. 61 No. 8, 2012)
Timber-Processing Capacity and Capabilities in the Western United States
Presentation slide show (pdf)(2004)
See also: Forest Products Journal 55(12):143-147 (July/August, 2006)
Intermountain Region Quarterly Log Prices
With the support of the USDA Forest Service Intermountain Region, the Bureau has developed a system to provide current mill-delivered prices for sawlogs and specialty products in the Intermountain Region (R4). These prices are based on quarterly surveys of timber-processing plants that receive logs or specialty products from ownerships in the R4 geographic area. Mill-delivered prices are reported quarterly by product type and species.
Biomass Studies
Assembly Bill 1504 California Forest Ecosystem and harvested Wood Product Carbon Inventory: 2017 Reporting period California’s Fire and Resource Assessment Program develops an annual Forest Ecosystem and Harvested Wood Product Carbon inventory (Forest Carbon Inventory) through collaboration with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service (FS) Forest Inventory and Analysis Program (FIA), USDA FS Pacific Northwest Research Station and the Forest Industry Research Program, Bureau of Business and Economic Research at the University of Montana. This Forest Carbon Inventory report assists the California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection in assessing whether the state’s goal of sequestering 5 million metric tons CO2e of forest carbon, as established by Assembly bills 32 and 1504, is being met. The report also informs the goals identified in the California Forest Carbon Plan.
Energy Use and Emissions by the California Sawmill Sector, 2016 This analysis focuses on energy use and associated carbon emissions by the sawmill industry in California in 2016. The study was completed for the California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection by the Forest Industry Research Program, Bureau of Business and Economic Research at the University of Montana. The report provides information on the energy used on-site at California sawmills, the industry’s carbon emissions and contribution to renewable woody biomass energy production, as well as its use of renewable and non-renewable energy.
Carbon Stored In Harvested Wood Products From California Timberlands: 1952-2017 Forest Industry Fact Sheet No. 2, 2019
A study to enhance the ability of federal land managers in the Western United States to address the financial and economic aspects of woody biomass removal was funded by the Joint Fire Science Program. The study was broken into two parts.
A compilation of an annotated bibliography on the body of economic and financial information and tools currently available to federal land managers.
Conducting focus groups with federal land managers throughout the West to understand their current knowledge and use of existing information and tools as well as barriers to biomass utilization,
Enhancing Western Managers' Knowledge and Use of Available Economic and Financial Biomass Information and Tools
Results from this study were presented as a poster at the Society of American Foresters Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida in October 2009. Additional biomass research from the Joint Fire Science Program can be found here.
Workforce and Employment
Forestry workers and businesses are a critical component of the forest industry, providing the labor and expertise to produce goods and manage our natural resources. Understanding the capacity to meet current and future demands and the barriers and challenges forestry businesses face are essential to maintaining a strong industry across all segments of the supply chain. The BBER also tracks the economic contribution of the industry at the state and regional level.
