The Northeast-Midwest State Foresters Alliance, Forest Markets & Utilization Committee, in cooperation with the state forestry agencies in 20 Northeast and Mid-Western states, recently released a series of reports characterizing the economic contributions of the forest and wood products industries in the individual states and the region. The reports were produced as part of a 20-state project supported by a U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, 2017 Landscape Scale Restoration Grant, administered by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Forest Resources Division.

The state report assesses broad forest conditions and economic contributions of the forest products industry in Vermont and provides an improved assessment of forests and the economies they support. It presents several measures of the industry’s contributions to Vermont’s economy including number of full-time and part-time jobs, labor income, value-added (Gross State Product, abbreviated as GSP) and output (sales). Forest data were provided by the U.S. Forest Service’s Forest Inventory and Analysis Program, and economic data come from the 2017 Impact Analysis for Planning (IMPLAN), a commercially available economic input-output (IO) model.

In 2017, the forest and wood products industries in Vermont provided direct employment to over 9,100 people (including maple syrup production) leading to $1.4 billion in output, in 2017. Labor income was $291.5 million and value-added was $393.4 million. In terms of total contributions (including multiplier effects), the industry supported over 13,800 jobs, $521.9 million in labor income, $770.8 million in value-added, and $2.1 billion in output.

The full state and regional reports, as well as a series of short fact sheets can be accessed on the Northeast-Midwest State Foresters Alliance website here.