IDAHO

The BBER’s Forest Industry Research Program works throughout the Western United States doing a variety of research and data collection projects. This page pulls together information and data the program has compiled for the state of Idaho.

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.



     


Timber Basket of the Interior West: A Forest Products Industry Perspective in Idaho (Presented to the Timber Measurement Society, Coeur d'Alene, ID)



Idaho's Timber Harvest and Forest Products Industry, 2011 Poster presented at the 2014 Society of American Foresters annual Convention.



This project was made possible, in part, by funding from the Northwest Advanced Renewables Alliance (NARA) supported by the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Competitive Grant no. 2011-68005-30416 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.



Forest Industry Outlook Reports

Since 2002, the Bureau has partnered with the University of Idaho’s Department of Forest Products to produce a similar report for Idaho’s forest products industry. These reports provide a general overview of the industry, recent changes and a forecast for the coming year.



     


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)



This project was made possible, in part, by funding from the Northwest Advanced Renewables Alliance (NARA) supported by the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Competitive Grant no. 2011-68005-30416 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.



In cooperation with the University of Idaho, Dept. of Renewable Materials and the Idaho Forest Product Commission, the BBER hosts the Idaho Wood Products Directory. This directory has been prepared to assist in marketing the wide variety of wood products producers in the State of Idaho. Companies listed range from primary wood products manufacturers to specialized niche product producers. Data published in this directory originated from several primary and secondary sources. (click here)



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.



Timber Processing Capacity

Timber Use, Processing Capacity, and Capability to Utilize Small-Diameter Timber Within USDA Forest Service, Region One (Montana, Idaho) (click here)



Logging Utilization

The BBER’s logging utilization studies provide information on the diameter distribution of harvested trees, descriptions of harvesting techniques and equipment used by loggers, and removals factors describing the proportion of material utilized and left in the woods from growing-stock and sawtimber sources.


2017 Estimating felled-tree stump volumes in the Pacific Northwest (poster)


2014 Logging Utilization in Idaho: Current and Past Trends (pdf)


2008/2011 Idaho Logging Utilization Poster



This project was made possible, in part, by funding from the Northwest Advanced Renewables Alliance (NARA) supported by the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Competitive Grant no. 2011-68005-30416 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.



Logging & Hauling Cost Studies

The Bureau conducts ongoing logging and hauling cost surveys to characterize Montana and north Idaho timber harvest costs.



Biomass Studies

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.


  1. A compilation of an annotated bibliography on the body of economic and financial information and tools currently available to federal land managers.

    Annotated Bibliography

  2. 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.



Northwest Advanced Renewables Alliance (NARA)

The Northwest Advanced Renewables Alliance has brought together scientists from public universities, government laboratories and private industry from throughout the Northwest, and beyond, to focus on developing ways to turn one of the region's most plentiful commodities—wood and wood waste—into jet fuel.



This project was made possible, in part, by funding from the Northwest Advanced Renewables Alliance (NARA) supported by the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Competitive Grant no. 2011-68005-30416 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.



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.



Idaho Partners