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An Environmental and Economic Success Story

Alabama has over 23 million acres of forest lands. These forests provide valuable resources that directly affect every Alabamian's quality of life. They provide habitat for wildlife, such as deer, turkeys, squirrels and songbirds. Forests clean the air, purify the water and protect valuable topsoil. They provide recreation - a place to walk, picnic, hunt, fish, hike and camp. Forests provide timber, the raw materials that support Alabama's number one manufacturing industry. This list could go on and on but these will suffice to underscore the importance of forest lands in Alabama. 

When one considers that most of these forests were cut over and the land was left bare and eroding during the period known in forestry circles as the "cut out and get out" era. Our present day forests are truly an unparalleled environmental and economic success story!

This success story has been largely written by private forest landowners that own 95% of Alabama's forests. The Treasure Forest Program was designed to promote responsible stewardship by private forest owners. It provides voluntary guidelines for responsible forest management and is a recognition program for landowners that are good stewards of their forest land. Since the inception of the Treasure Forest Program, established by the Alabama Forestry Committee in 1974, air and water quality as impacted by forests, has continually improved; more trees have been regenerated and harvested; many species of wildlife are larger and healthier; and the general environmental and economic well-being of Alabama is significantly better.