Regional Comparisons of Timber Dependency: The Northwest and the Southeast

We perform a comparison of the timber dependency and socioeconomic characteristics of timber dependent counties for three states in the Northwest region (Idaho, Oregon, and Washington) and three states in the Southeast region (Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi) of the United States. The purpose of this research is to examine whether two forested areas of the United States experience timber dependency in similar ways. This research defines timber dependent counties as those with 20 percent or more of the total employment in forest-based industries. Questions related to forest-based employment patterns and socioeconomic correlates of timber dependency are examined. Tests of difference between means are used to determine whether timber dependent counties in the two regions score similarly on measures of community well-being. The results show that there is much variation in the characteristics associated with timber dependency in the timber dependent counties in the Southeast and the Northwest. While timber dependency may be applied to both regions, the phenomena can be quite different