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Celebrate Montana Forest Products Industry October 16 – 22!


In 2011, the Montana Legislature declared the third week of October to be Montana Forest Products Industry Week, a time to promote, educate, and celebrate Montana’s forest products and the people who work so hard to produce them.


The Forest Products Industry includes those who grow, harvest, and process wood and engineer and manufacture wood products. This industry is pivotal to Montana’s economy and was historically instrumental in the state's settling, establishment, and growth. There is much to celebrate!


Ways to celebrate:

  • Montana Department of Natural Resources (DNRC) offers a Montana Forest Products Industry Week Guide to Hosting Activities and Events that includes fun ideas for all ages.

  • Take an educational and interactive walk in the forest! The American Forest Foundation offers a great resource, Walk in the Forest: A Guide for Promoting Forests & Forest Management, that will have you appreciating Montana’s forests in new ways!

  • Participate in the Montana Wood – Made in Montana Proud! social media campaign. If you own a Montana business that produces wood products, is built with Montana wood, or sells Montana wood products, post photos on your social media channels and share how you support Montana’s Forest Products Industry. Be sure to use the hashtags, #MTwood, #forestproductsweek, and #forestproud.

  • Or celebrate by helping us spread the word about Montana Forest Products Industry Week and Montana wood products by sharing, liking, and commenting on social posts with the #MTwood, #forestproductsweek, and #forestproud hashtags.


How MLA is Celebrating

In celebration of Montana Forest Products Industry Week, Sun Mountain Lumber and the Department of Natural Resources (DNRC), with the support of the Montana Timber Legacy Foundation, the Montana Logging Association, Kanduch Logging, KLM Contracting and Parke Logging will be hosting an event for students to promote, educate, and celebrate Montana’s forest products and the people who work so hard to produce them.


High school students from Anaconda, Phillipsburg, Deer Lodge, and Drummond and members of the Anaconda Jobs Corp will take a guided tour of a timber sale site and the

Sun Mountain Lumber mill in Deer Lodge. They will learn where the material to make

Montana’s wood products come from, what it is like to be a modern timber harvester, and

why managing the State’s forests is essential for the health and safety of Montana.


Tree-mendous Forest Product Industry Facts:

  • Wood is the only major building material that is renewable and stores more carbon during growth, which is emitted during harvest, processing, and transport combined.

  • Montana has 19.8 million acres of productive, non-reserved timberlands, and 860,000 acres of industrial and managed timberland is third-party certified for sustainable practices.

  • 6,530 Montanans are employed in forest-based jobs**

  • Forestry is #3 in Montana’s economic impact ranking**

  • 77% of the energy used in the Montana forest products industry is renewable wood energy produced and consumed on-site.

  • 16 public and non-profit facilities in Montana generate heat and hot water with renewable wood energy.

  • According to the National Association of Manufacturers, in 2019, Wood Products was ranked 2nd in Montana’s top 10 manufacturing sectors with $395.7 million in revenue.

  • Did you know that the USDA has a Forest Products Laboratory researching the use of wood and fiber in advanced composites, advanced structures, biorefinery, nanotechnology, and biomass utilization? Click here to learn more!

Montana DNRC Fact Sheet, 2018


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