Abstract: A review of the past 12 years of the United states’ wood preserving industry development is compiled in this report. Most of that period’s research developments involved pressure treating methods and new preservatives.In 1980, about 346. commercial treating plants in the United states treated an estimated 9.4 million cubic meters of crossties and switch ties, poles, piling, fence posts, lumber, timbers, plywood, particlaboard, and other miscellaneous wood products.Pressure methods in closed systems accounted for more than 95 percent of the wood treatments by all processes. The remaining treatments use various non-pressure processes that include thermal, diffusion, cold soak, and vacuum methods. Both processes include penta, creosote, and arsenical salts as the major preservative. However, the application of water soluble arsenical salts has increased substantially in recent years.Although the U. S. Forest Products Laboratory has performed wood preservation research, many universities and private companies in this period have also made significant contributions to the preservation of this renewable structural resource. The maior research concerns of the wood preservation industry are environmental protection, occupational safety, and health regulations. Research is aiming to develop environmentally acceptable and economically feasible preservative substitutes as this development is deemed vital to the future growth of the U. S. preservative industry.