Wood In Architecture Issue 1, 2018

MATERIALS & TECHNOLOGY
The interactive forest maps offer statistical information about America s forest resources such as species, growth and distribution.
Ulisaon studies of logging sites to record how much
wood is actually removed during harvest are also carried out.
FIA data shows that between 1951 and 2011 the volume
of U.S. hardwood growing stock increased from 5.2 billion
m 3 to 12.0 billion m 3 , a gain of over 130 per cent. This trend
occurred because hardwood growth was well in excess of
harvest volume throughout the sixty-year period. FIA data
also shows that U.S hardwood forest area increased at a rate
of 400,000 hectares per year between 2007 and 2012, adding
an area the size of a football pitch every minute during this
period.
The graph shows the long term net growth of hardwoods,
with an The area interactive increasing forest from maps 99 million offer statistical ha in 1953 to 111
million information ha 2012, about adding America an area s forest the size resources of a football pitch
every minute, such as rising species, at a rate growth of 40,000 and distribution. ha per year or in total
an area equal to France, Belgium, Netherlands and Germany
combined. Removals have been reducing since 1996.
The online interacve maps allow users to visualise U.S.
hardwood forest resource information from a bird’s-eye
perspecve to reveal underlying spaal paerns. The most
recent FIA data on the volume of live trees, growth and
harvest is provided for 22 hardwood species which together
account for over 96 per cent of all hardwood standing volume
in the United States. Through a simple and intuive interface,
users can analyse the distribuon of hardwood volume,
growth and removals at naonal level, or drill down to state
and county level.
The online map system was developed by AHEC in
collaboration with BWA Design, a UK-based company
specialising in creave web design. | WIA
WOOD IN ARCHITECTURE • ISSUE 1 • 2018
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