• In 1994, Nebraska had 948 thousand acres of forest land, representing 2 percent of the state's total land area.  Since 1983, the area of forest land has increased by 30 percent.  Of this total area of forest land, 898 thousand acres were classified as timberland.
• In addition to the area of forest land, Nebraska had an additional 1.25 million acres of land with trees present 1994.
• The Natural Resources Districts with the most area of forest land in Nebraska in 1994 were the Upper Niobrara-White with 174  thousand acres and the Papio-Missouri River with 10.5 thousand acres.
• Forests in Nebraska represent a unique convergence of vegetative communities.  Central hardwood forests, Rock Mountain forest, and northern boreal forests all converge in Nebraska.  Other vegetation types that intermix with Nebraska's forests include the tall-grass, mid-grass, and short-grass vegetative communities.  This diversity of vegetative communities is rarely encountered anywhere else in the world.
• In 1994, there were three conifer-dominated forest types and seven deciduous forest types classified in Nebraska.  Elm-ash-locust was the most extensive forest type with 203 thousand acres, approximately on-fourth of the total timberland area.
• Between 1983 and 1994 the area of timberland with eastern redcedar as a dominant species increased by 61 percent, rising from 68 thousand acres to 110 thousand acres.  While this was an important increase, the 42 thousand additional acres of eastern redcedar represented only 0.08 percent of the total area of Nebraska.
• In 1994, only 12 percent of the timberland in Nebraska was fully stocked.  The State has an excellent opportunity to improve the growth rate in its timberlands through improved stocking and management.
• There were more than 300 million live trees on Nebraska timberlands in 1994.  With a statewide population estimated at 1.6 million   in 1994, there were approximately 190 timberland trees for each Nebraskan.
• Growing-stock volume in Nebraska increased by 45 percent between inventories, rising to 854 million cubic feet in 1994.  This increase was due to growth on existing timberlands and increases in area of timberland.
• In addition to the growing-stock volume, Nebraska had 476 million cubic feet in short-log, rough, rotten and salvable dead trees in 1994.   This volume represents an important source of wood fiber that supplements the growing-stock volumes in the States.

This article is from the USDA Forest Service