Saw Palmetto Forest Floor, Highlands County, Florida
Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Adam H. Putnam and the Florida Forest Service are celebrating the benefits of Florida’s more than 17 million acres of forests during Florida’s third annual Working Forests Week, which is Oct. 15 through Oct. 21.
A working forest includes publicly or privately owned lands where sustainable production of timber is balanced with promoting healthy populations of native forest plants and animals. Some familiar products that come from working forests include paper, lumber, cosmetics, medicines, and fabrics.
“Florida’s forests provide the resources to make more than 5,000 types of products,” said State Forester Jim Karels. “Each year, more than 70 million trees are planted to help sustain Florida’s working forests.”
Florida’s Working Forests Week was developed in partnership with the Florida Forestry Association and is held each year alongside National Forest Products Week. Working Forest Week workshops and events can be found on the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ events calendar.
The Florida Forest Service, a division of the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, manages more than 1 million acres of state forests and provides forest management assistance on more than 17 million acres of private and community forests. The Florida Forest Service is also responsible for protecting homes, forestland and natural resources from the devastating effects of wildfire on more than 26 million acres. Learn more at FreshFromFlorida.com.
Image credit: Saw Palmetto Forest Floor, Highlands County, Florida/By No machine-readable author provided. Bastique assumed (based on copyright claims). [GFDL, CC-BY-SA-3.0 or CC BY-SA 2.5-2.0-1.0], via Wikimedia Commons.