State forestry official: Vermont’s forest economy is shrinking processing capacity even as standing timber grows

Catherine Studio, forest economy program manager at the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation, told the House Agriculture, Food Resiliency & Forestry committee on Oct. 12 that Vermont’s forests are producing more wood than is being removed while primary processing capacity and the number of mills in the state have declined.

“Right now … we’re at 2.9 to 1. So we’re growing almost 3 times more wood than what we’re moving from our forests,” Studio said, summarizing Forest Inventory and Analysis-derived data and the department’s 2022 harvest survey.

Studio said Vermont is about 76% forested—roughly 4.5 million acres—with most timberland in private hands and an economy where the forest products sector is the state’s third-largest manufacturing sector by output in 2017 data (the department is updating those figures). She said most forests are northern hardwoods…