Ohio Forest Products Awareness Week

The state of Ohio has approximately 8.05 million acres under forest cover, which is 30.7% of Ohio’s land area. Nearly three-quarters of Ohio’s forestland, 5.8 million acres, is held by 336,000 nonindustrial private landowners. The forest volume in Ohio is 96.3% hardwoods and 3.7% conifers.

Western Ohio’s forest products industry generated the largest impacts in terms of employment and dollars. The industry’s contributions as apercent of the regional economy were larger in southeast Ohio. Northeast Ohio was second in both actual and relative contributions.

The forest products industry consists of 26 individual sectors in Ohio, which can be aggregated into four groups—resource, solid wood products, pulp and paper, and wood furniture. Tertiary sectors, such as support activities for agriculture and forestry, printing and publishing, and others, were not included due to their degree of separation from the direct production and manufacturing of wood and timber-based products.

The first week of October is designated as "Ohio Forest Products Awareness Week" in order to educate the public about, increase public awareness of, and recognize the important contributions of the state’s forests and forest products industry to the state’s economic viability and the quality of life of its citizens and to recognize the forest products industry’s environmentally responsible stewardship of the state’s forest resources. (5.2285 Ohio Forest Products Awareness Week. Added by 130th General Assembly File No. 19, SB 94, §1, eff. 9/27/2013.)

October Ohio Fall Festivals & Autumn EVENTS, for example "Paul Bunyan Show".

The Official Paul Bunyan Show in Cambridge, Ohio is one of the nation’s largest and oldest forest industry shows. Show attendees see more than 130 exhibits representing all facets of the forest industry throughout North America. Representatives are on site to showcase equipment, manpower and the dedication that has made the industry what it is today. Lumberjack entertainment and competitions take place throughout the weekend as well as numerous educational sessions on topics ranging from logging equipment safety and maintenance to the history and restoration of the bald eagle in Ohio to Ohio’s edible mushrooms.

Source: ohio.gov | ohio.org | ohioforest.org