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Forests of the South....
Return to Alabama Forestry Link...
From Forests of the South
Publication..
Provided by the Southern Forest Based Economic Development
Council
Wood Volume, Growth and Removal
Because of the Southern temperate climate, abundant rainfall and availing topography, the nation's richest plant community thrives. There are more than 400 woody species of plants in the South, many of which have some commercial value. This 200 million acre forest plant community is increasingly being described as the nations "wood basket".
Approximately 40 percent of United States timberland is located in the South. The South grows 23 percent of the nation's softwood timber and 44 percent of the hardwood timber. In a recent survey the Thirteen Southern States harvested 43 percent of softwood sawlogs and 53 percent of hardwood sawlogs produced nationally. These States also accounted for over half the plywood roundwood and two-thirds of the pulpwood.
Latest U. S. Forest Service survey data indicates that there are over 100 billion trees (1 inch in diameter or larger) growing in the Southern forest. This equates to a stocking level of approximately 500 growing stock trees per acre. Twenty seven percent of these trees are softwood; Seventy three percent are hardwood.
The most abundant Southern species, by volume, is the Southern Yellow Pine, making up one-third of the total inventory. The most abundant hardwood species, the red and white oaks, make up one-quarter of the inventory.
The Southern forest is composed of eight major forest type groups. These
forest type groups are areas named for species making up the major portion
of live-tree stocking. The major Southern forest type groups are longleaf-slash
pine, loblolly-shortleaf pine, white-red-jack pine, oak-pine, oak-hickory,
oak-gum-cypress, elm-ash-cottonwood, maple-beech-birch. The most abundant
timber type group is the oak-hickory type which occupies 39 percent of the
forest followed by the loblolly-shortleaf type which occupies 24
percent..
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The Southern forest is predominantly privately owned. Approximately 179 million acres, or 90 percent of this forest is either owned by industry or by a non-industrial private owner. The remaining 21 million acres, or 10 percent, are owned by a collection of federal, state, and local public owners. The National Forest system controls 11.6 million acres or slightly over half the public timberland.
Among the private owners, corporate non-forest industry owns 16 million acres of timberland; farmers, 39 million acres ; forest industry, 39 million acres; and other private owners, 85 million acres.
Though public forest land represents only a small percentage of the total ownership, the amount has increased 15 percent since 1952. More than 3 million acres of public forest lands were acquired by local, state, and federal agencies during the last 40 years. The private other category (owners who are neither farmers or forest industry) also increased by nearly %50 , rising by 44 million acres. Conversely, farmer ownership changed dramatically during the same period, dropping from 99 million acres to 39 million acres, a 60 percent decrease.
Many of the 5 million private owners of forest land in the South have small holdings. Estimates indicate that 92 percent of the ownership units are less than 100 acres. The South is really a patchwork of many forests, mixing forest management priorities that make for it's broad diverseness. The overall average size of a southern private forest ownership is 38 acres. Louisiana has the largest average size at 85 acres while North Carolina has the smallest size at 24 acres.
Southern State Forest Ownerships by Number of Owners and Average Acre Size
Alabama....... 452,400............ 46
Arkansas .......296,100........... 49
Florida........... 320,800.......... 41
Georgia ..........610,700.......... 36
Kentucky .......306,900 ..........36
Louisiana ........148,400 ..........85
Mississippi ......341,200 ..........41
North Carolina ....704,900 ......24
Oklahoma ......158,000 ...........44
South Carolina ..335,900 ........33
Tennessee ......475,900 ...........25
Texas .............319,800........... 57
Virginia ..........468,800............ 28
All States .....4,939,800 ...........38
( 1 acre minimum size for survey)
Sources:
*Forest Resources of the U.S., 1992, USDA Forest Service, GTR RM-234
*South's Fourth Forest, USDA Forest Service, Forest Resource Report 24
*NE Forest Experiment Station, USDA Forest Service, Preliminary Landowner Survey Data
*State by State Survey, Alabama Forestry
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Wood Volume, Growth and Removals
Although the Southern forest has not expanded in size during the last half century, wood volumes have significantly increased. Both the hardwood and softwood growing stock inventory increased by 60 percent since 1952. Proper forest management in the South fueled much of this tree volume expansion.
In 1952 there was an estimated 148 billion cubic feet of timber having some commercial value. By 1992, the inventory had increased to 251 billion cubic feet. This increase occurred while nearly nine billion cubic feet of wood was harvested annually in the South. The Southern forest inventory has been sustained for the last 40 years despite significant levels of removal.
The Southern forest loses approximately one percent of it's timber to fire, insects, and disease each year. This two billion cubic foot annual mortality equates to one-fourth of the harvest volume. State and federal fire protection and health monitoring programs are being carried out to reduce this loss.
The relationship between the net growth and removals of each species is represented as the growth to drain ratio. This ratio helps define present pressures on the forest and can predict future changes in it's composition if all things remain constant. Overall, the ratio of net growth (total growth minus mortality) to removals for all growing stock is 1.1:1. This means that the South is growing 10 percent more wood than is being cut.
Pressures on this resource are growing. The Southern forest is harvesting
more softwood volume than is being grown. The growth to drain ratio is .88:1
(softwood removal exceeds growth by 12 percent). The Southern hardwood forest,
on the other hand, is growing over 50 percent more wood than is being cut.
The figure below illustrates growth versus removals for growing stock for
the total inventory and by broad species
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