Current United States Forest Type and Density Maps

Maps of Where US Trees are Located

By
Steve Nix
Steve Nix
Forestry Expert
  • B.S., Forest Resource Management, University of Georgia
Steve Nix is a natural resources consultant and a former forest resources analyst for the state of Alabama. He is a member of the Society of American Foresters.
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Updated on March 06, 2017

The United States Forest Service developed and maintains maps that give you a visual representation of the 26 major forest type groups and the tree and forest density in the United States. I think you will be surprised at how few forested acres we have when comparing the country's total size.​

These maps suggest that there are more trees and significantly more forest area in the eastern United States when compared to the forests of the western United States. You will also see from these images that there are large areas that are completely treeless, mostly due to arid desert, prairie, and large agriculture.

The maps are based on remote sensing satellite data processing in conjunction with data from the USFS Forest Inventory and Analysis unit in Starkville, Mississippi, and the Pacific Northwest Research Station in Anchorage, Alaska. The political and physical boundaries were derived from the United States Geological Survey with 1:2,000,000 digital line graph data.

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Forest Type Groups of the United States

U.S. Forest Type Map. USFS

This is the United States Forest Service's (USFS) forest type location map. The map gives you a visual presentation of the 26 major timber or forest type groups along with their natural ranges in the United States.

These are the major timber types from the Eastern Forests, Western Forests, and Hawaii Forests. They are color coded according to the exact forest type name.

In The East - from the purple white-red-jack pine forests of the lake states to the green oak-hickory forests of the eastern highlands to the tan pine forests of the eastern coastal plains.

In The West - from the yellow lower elevation Douglas-fir forests to the orange mid-elevation ponderosa pine to the upper elevation lodgepole pine.

For serious viewing, follow the link and review this map with the zoom tool using the following Adobe Acrobat file (PDF).

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Forest Density Levels of the United States

U.S. Forest Density Map. USFS

This is the United States Forest Service's (USFS) forest distribution map. The map gives you a visual presentation of the level of tree density in increments of 10 percentage points using a green color code.

In The East - the darkest greens come from forests of the upper Lake states, the New England states, the Appalachain states, and the Southern states.

In The West - the darkest greens come from forests in the Pacific Northwest through Northern California and into Montana and Idaho to include other areas of higher elevations.

For serious viewing, follow the link and review this map with the zoom tool using the following Adobe Acrobat file (PDF).

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Your Citation
Nix, Steve. "Current United States Forest Type and Density Maps." ThoughtCo, Sep. 3, 2021, thoughtco.com/current-us-forest-type-density-maps-1343455. Nix, Steve. (2021, September 3). Current United States Forest Type and Density Maps. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/current-us-forest-type-density-maps-1343455 Nix, Steve. "Current United States Forest Type and Density Maps." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/current-us-forest-type-density-maps-1343455 (accessed March 23, 2023).