Despite a decrease in the timber market, the forestry industry is still responsible for creating hundreds of thousands of State of Oregon jobs.

A recent report from the National Alliance of Forest Owners found that private forest logging is responsible for more than 120,000 jobs in Oregon. Overall, private lands account for about 80 percent of timber Harvest in Oregon.

The Oregon Forest Resources Institute notes that about one-third of forests in the state are privately owned and the rest are considered federal land. Large, industrial landholders account for about 6 million acres, while small woodland owners account for about 4.7 million acres.

The NAFO report further found that Oregon has:

• 10,884,755 private forest acres
• 16,959,628 public forest acres
• 120,538 direct, indirect and induced jobs from private forests
• $4 billion in direct, indirect and induced payroll from private forests
• $129 million in state income and severance taxes from private forests
• $11.8 billion in sales from private forests

The NAFO study found that private forests contribute $277 per acre to state gross domestic products throughout the nation, while public lands contribute about $41 per acre.

“While the industry is struggling from the depressed housing market and the wider recession, it’s important to know exactly how much working forests contribute in jobs, taxes and GDP,” Pete Stewart, CEO of Forest2Market, the consulting firm that generated the study, said. “With a clear view of the total contribution, we can better understand the consequences of public policies and market factors that limit how much work these forests can do.”