study findings indicate that: 



— The U.S. forest land acreage of 737 nnillion acres amounts to about 7 percent of 

 the world's forests. 



— The United States has about 5 percent of the world's population. 



— The United States accounts for about 40 percent of the world's private forests. 



— Relative to the rest of the world, a higher proportion of U.S. forests are 

 managed. Half of the closed forest area of the United States is managed, while 

 worldwide, one-third of closed forests are managed. 



— The United States reserves about 10 percent of all forest land from harvest. This 

 accounts for about one-quarter of world forests in this category and for about 

 half of protected, closed forests in the temperate zone. 



— The United States accounted for about 1 percent of the net loss in world forest 

 area over the past decade, but the area of U.S. forest land stabilized by the start 

 of the 1990's. 



— U.S. forest land is covered with 7 percent of the world's timber inventory. 



— The United States produces one-fourth of the industrial timber harvested in the 

 world and sustains high rates of timber production across diverse forest types, at 

 a scale greater than any other country, and in support of diverse forest 

 industries. 



— Measured in terms of harvest volume per acre of timberland, U.S. rates of 

 production are equalled in some European countries, but are exceeded in few. 



— Like a few other heavily forested and developed countries, and unlike many 

 other developed and developing countries, the United States uses timber in 

 place of other materials in a wide variety of applications. 



— The United States consumes nearly 30 percent of the world's production of 

 industrial timber. 



— The United States is the world's leading importer of timber products and at the 

 same time one of the leading exporters of timber products. On balance, it is a 

 net exporter, measured in value terms. 



— Most U.S. imported timber products originate in Canada. 



— U.S. expenditures on natural resource management amount to about 40 percent 

 of the world total. 



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