Answers

1. Wood products are less energy intensive to manufacture than which of the following materials?
   (d) all of the above
   Wood is less energy intensive than steel, aluminum, concrete and other competing materials. Most forest products are made with small requirements for fossil fuels as compared with substitutes. It takes about 0.2 tons of coal (energy equivalent) to process a ton of wood. A ton of aluminum requires about 10 tons of coal. Steel requires 2 tons.

2. What percentage of a tree can be used in the manufacturing process for wood and paper products?
   (d) almost 100 percent
   With today's technology, almost 100 percent of a tree can be used in the manufacturing process for wood and paper products. The industry has designed processes that use tree bark for steam and electricity, sawdust and wood chips for manufacturing pulp used to make paper, and wood shavings to make particleboard and composite panels for construction.

3. How much wood does the average person use in a year?
   (d) 1,664 pounds
   About 1,664 pounds will meet the needs of an average person annually for building supplies, newsprint, printing and writing paper, tissue paper, paper towels, product packaging and mail. Hundreds of other products, like toothpaste, football helmets, scotch tape, and milk shakes also contain wood fiber.

4. How many leaves does a mature tree have?
   (d) 200,000
   It depends on the species and age, but a mature, healthy tree can have 200,000 leaves. During 60 years of life, such a tree would grow and shed 3,600 pounds of leaves returning about 70% of their nutrients to the soil.

5. How much paper can you get from one tree? It depends. Here’s why.

   First, unit measurements of pulpwood (for paper and packaging) and sawlogs (for lumber and wood products) are in "cords" and "board feet" respectfully. A pulpwood cord is a stack of logs four feet tall, four feet deep and eight feet long (4 x 4 x 8). All measurements of how much wood fiber is used to produce paper products are in cords or tons.

   Second, the initial step in preparing logs for pulpmaking is to remove the bark. It is unsuitable for paper production, but is burned by paper firms to produce energy. However, depending on the type of tree, bark can account for 10 to 20 percent of a tree’s volume.

   Third, different trees yield varying quantities of pulp. It varies, for example, by species (hardwood, softwood and aspen) and subspecies (red pine, jack pine, white pine).

   Fourth, different paper grades - tissue, computer, magazine, book - require different volumes or densities of pulp. Even within the book grades, there are different weights of paper which require more or less volume of pulp (and wood fiber).

   Because of these variables, it isn’t possible to determine how many books are made from a single tree. However, it is possible to estimate - in general numbers - how many different products may be produced from a cord of wood.

   The following list identifies the following yields from a "generic" cord of wood:

   	12 dining room table sets (seating eight)
   	30 rocking chairs
   	250 copies of the Sunday New York Times
   	942 one-pound books
   	1,000 to 2,000 pounds of paper (depending on grade)
   	1,200 copies of National Geographic magazine
   	2,700 copies of an average (36 page) daily newspaper
   	4,000 one-gallon milk containers
   	61,370 standard (#10) envelopes
   	89,870 sheets of letterhead bond paper
   	460,000 personal checks
   	4,384,000 postage stamps
   	7,500,000 toothpicks

   Additionally, an 1,800 square foot home requires about 10,000 board feet of lumber (roughly equal to about 20 cords of wood).

   One other interesting rule of thumb is that an acre of forested land may yield an average of 10-15 cords of wood when harvested at maturity - depending not only on the size of the trees, but how productively the land has been managed.

   It is important to note that the paper and forest products industries - in Wisconsin and nationwide - along with county, state and federal forestry agencies and many private landowners (such as tree farmers) productively manage forests such that annual harvests do not exceed forest growth. Paper and forest products firms also are active in reforestation programs (planting and regeneration of harvested lands), resource stewardship and forest research to assure the future of America’s forests for following generations.