The Idaho forest is a place where men and women earn a living.

Nearly one of every eleven jobs in Idaho is tied to the forest products industry which is the state's number one non-farm basic industry. Of all the basic industries in Idaho, the forest products industry provides 10.9% of the gross state product and 9% of the total jobs.

In 1996 for example, more than 20,000 people including loggers, foresters, millworkers, etc., earned their livings directly from the Idaho forest. These forest related jobs provided $880 million of labor income in 1996.

Another 39,800 people provided services to the forest industry and were indirectly dependent upon the forests. Grocery checkers in Salmon, auto mechanics in Bonners Ferry and schoolteachers in Horseshoe Bend are all dependent upon the jobs and income provided by the forest products industry in their towns. And let's not forget the additional people who transport raw materials and finished wood products and build forest roads and the specialists and scientists who work for forest products companies, the U.S. Forest Service and other public agencies, planning and directing forestry activities on Idaho's timberlands.