Forests are the dominant land use in Florida. They cover almost half of Florida's 34 million acres of land. Three quarters of Florida's forests are in private ownership. There are an estimated 300,000 private forest landowners in the state, ranging from large corporate timber companies to small farm woodlots. Forests and the forest products industry are also important to Florida, contributing over $8 billion annually to the economy. There are over 150,000 forest related jobs in Florida, with payroll receipts exceeding $1.25 billion annually.

How important is forestry in Baker County?

Baker county has 375,000 acres of land. Forests are the major land use in covering 92% of the area.

Private landowners are the most numerous but forest industry own the largest forest area (59%).

What is the value of forest products to Baker County?

This list of the forest products in Baker County does not include recreation, or other non- timber products and environmental services forests provide. Products include revenues from hunting leases, pine straw and ecotourism. Services forest provide include greenspace, landscape diversity, visual aesthetics, nutrient, water and soil conservation.
 

Value of standing Timber	$329 million
Value of Harvest (1996)	$ 12 million
Direct Employees:	N/A
Indirect Employees:	N/A
Payroll Receipts:	N/A
Forest Manufacturing output value	$ 21 million
Total sale of agriculture products (crop, animals, orchard):	$ 28 million

For more information contact the Baker County Extension Office: Route 3 Box 1074b, MacClenny, FL 32063-9640 (904) 259-3520

or their web site at: http://www.ifas.ufl.edu/WWW/AGATOR/HTM/CES.HTM

Compiled by Dr. M. Jacobson, School of Forest Resources and Conservation, IFAS, University of Florida