The U.S. Forest Service published the results of a six-city study delving into consumers’ participation in urban wood systems and their interest in urban wood products.

According to the Forest Service, for the past 20 years, approximately twice as many trees were removed annually from urban areas in the United States as has been harvested annually from the U.S. National Forest System. Yet, most of this urban wood is treated as waste instead of as a valuable resource to generate economic growth and sustainable cities. 

The waste and underutilization of this neighborhood resource has been countered by a growing movement to divert urban wood from the waste stream and utilize this significant resource in an array of wood products, from high-end furniture to construction grade lumber to wood chips. Using removed wood for valuable products both avoids substantial waste disposal fees and can be a foundation of profitable businesses and markets. In addition, urban wood utilization is now increasingly recognized as part of the sustain able urban forest management life cycle.

The survey gathered responses from residential landowners, who the researchers viewed as key actors in the establishment of local urban wood economies as both sources of material and users of urban ood products. The survey noted that residential landowners composed a difficult-to-reach group compared with others, such as tree care companies, mill operators, and public landowners.

The survey targeted residential landowners in Baltimore, Maryland; Denver, Colorado; Austin, Texas; Houston, Texas; Portland, Oregon; and St. Louis, Missouri. 

Overall, 15% of residential landowners reported purchasing or acquiring urban wood products in the past. Landowners were more likely to purchase—and were more interested in—lower value products like wood chips and compost than higher value products like lumber or furniture. Private sector actors, like landscaping and tree care companies, and social sources, like friends and family, were more often recognized as sources of trusted information for tree care advice than local or state government and nonprofit organizations.

In conclusion, the researchers said the results point to relatively low rates of participation in urban wood systems and low perceived importance of using trees from urban areas as wood products among urban residential landowners in these six U.S. cities. However, when viewed as percentages of all residential landowners in a particular city, these rates may represent a sizable population that could be engaged in urban wood use and a significant portion of the volume of wood removed from urban areas each year. 

There are an estimated 219,922,123 urban residents in the United States (80.7% of the total population according to the U.S. Census Bureau.) If behavior amongst residential landowners in these six cities is similar to those in urban areas across the country, 15% would therefore correspond to approximately 33 million people who have purchased or acquired any urban wood products. This rough estimate reveals that urban wood products could yield substantial volumes of wood biomass for products and diversion of that biomass from the wood stream if landowners in all cities assign similar importance to urban wood utilization and act accordingly. Similarly, the relatively higher interest in lower value products like wood chips or mulch was not too surprising, given perhaps greater familiarity with those low value products being sourced with local wood compared to high value products like furniture or flooring.

Download the Urban Wood survey.