For those of us in Florida mulch is one of the most available sources of organic matter. Since we have a fetish about keeping yards clean most citizens carefully gather all organic material that accumulates on their property and give it to the government waste collectors to take away and grind up. Tree trimming is also a passion and since our roadways are often lined with trees and electric wires in the same space these must be pruned and chipped into mulch. Periodically we have hurricanes and great amounts are processed.
So yes, many of us use mulch here in Florida even though we don't generally harvest it from forests.
I can't seem to get enough. To me it is an energy source for soil building, mostly carbon but also with plenty of minerals. Here was my largest delivery after Hurricane Irma:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnaLWHgib5A&t
In some areas private pine forests are harvested for pine straw which is sold after collection with specialized equipment:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrTyeIRFyFQ
this I very nice to have such quantityes of mulch available when in need , do they give it for free ?? Here I can also buy mulch from different companies, but it is generally costly , so I prefer to take it for free from the forest. An additional well known benefit is weed control, I doubt that any weed will manage to grow trough the layer I have placed.
lol in the first video, that is one hell of a mulch pile, cant imagine the work that went in to spread it. In the forest, right under the mulch there are a few inches of really dark, airy and organically rich soil layer, I use this layer as a main ingredient in my homemade potting mix, plants love it. I have also found that this same layer in pine forests is better for this purpose ,compared to the same in deciduous forests, the pine one is much more darker and airy.
I didnt know that collecting pine straw was a thing ....