Forest products

Forest products

There is more to Idaho’s forests than the trees. Forest products are any materials harvested from a forest for commercial or noncommercial use. Learn about non-timber forest products such as huckleberries and Christmas trees; increase your knowledge of biomass utilization and traditional and small-scale harvesting technologies.

Traditional forest products

Traditional forest products include lumber, plywood, planks, poles, pulp, paper and using fuel for wood. Learn about log scaling and how to market and increase your timber sale profits. Build an easy starting fire, learn about the BTU values of different type of firewood and do some math to determine if heating with wood is for you.

Related resources

• Idaho's forest products industry: current conditions and forecast 2010 (SB 96)
• Wood splitter’s secrets (pdf)
• Wood-burning stoves (pdf)
• Fireplace safety (pdf)
• Fireplaces (pdf)
• Fireplace adaptations and efficiency boosters (pdf)
• Building an easy starting fire (pdf)
• The beauty of warming with wood (pdf)
• Installation of wood stoves in fireplaces (pdf)
• Safe wood stove operation (pdf)
• Firewood permits selection and storage (pdf)
• The economics of heating with wood — is it for you? (pdf)
• Chimneys (pdf)
• The creosote problem chimney fires and chimney cleaning (pdf)
• Smoke problems and their cures (pdf)
• Wood-burning furnaces (pdf)
• Wood stove installation and safety (pdf)
• Increasing timber sale profits — beyond getting "good scale" (pdf)
• Measuring logs and understanding how logs are sold (pdf)
• Selling your forest products (pdf)
• Idaho Forest Products Commission
• University of Idaho Experimental Forest

 Non-timber forest products

A forest produces much more than lumber. If you have ever been huckleberry picking or collected cones for a craft project, you have been the beneficiary of a non-timber forest product. Acquaint yourself with some of the many specialty products grown and harvested from the forests of Idaho.

Related resources

• Special forest products, CIS 952
• Where can edible non-timber forest products be sold? (pdf)

Christmas trees, high-value hardwood plantations and windbreaks

Live Christmas trees, high-value hardwood plantations and windbreaks are less traditional forest products that provide us with aesthetic and monetary benefits.

Christmas trees

• The people's tree (pdf)
• Fresh Christmas trees: an eco-friendly choice (pdf)
• Cutting a wild Christmas tree and leaving a better forest (pdf)
• Real Christmas trees — made in America! (pdf)
• Growing Christmas trees in the PNW, PNW 6
• To paint or not to paint that is the question (pdf)
• Deck the boughs with smelly brew to keep tree thieves away from you (pdf)
• Identifying and managing Christmas tree diseases, pests and other problems, PNW 659
• Weed and vegetation management in Christmas trees, PNW 625
• Traditions (pdf)
• Today's tree farm — not just for Christmas anymore (pdf)
• O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree (pdf)
• Inland Empire Christmas Tree Association
• National Christmas Tree Association
• Pacific Northwest Christmas Tree Association

High-value hardwood plantations

• Hardwood plantations for the Inland Northwest (SB 57)
• Hardwoods in the pacific northwest (pdf)
• Hardwoods 101: planning, planting and maintenance (pdf)
• American chestnut (pdf)
• Black cherry (pdf)
• Black walnut (pdf)
• Carpathian walnut (pdf)
• Oaks (pdf)
• Paulownia (pdf)
• Sugar maple (pdf)

Windbreaks

• Planning and planting a five-row windbreak (SB 91)
• Trees against the wind, PNW 5
• Living snow fences (pdf)