Forest Types
The Forest Inventory Analysis (FIA) program of the USDA Forest Service recognizes five broad categories of forest types found in the South. Forest types are based on the species creating the majority of the live-tree stocking. Although the total acreage of timberlands has remained relatively stable, there has been a shift in forest types. The five forest types include planted pine, natural pine, mixed oak-pine, upland hardwood, and lowland hardwood.
Planted Pine stands, or pine plantations, have been artificially regenerated by planting or direct seeding. These stands have at least 10% stocking and are classed as pine or other softwood forest type. Acreage in planted pine has been increasing steadily since 1950 and now stands at approximately 30 million acres (Wear and Greis 2002).
Stands classed as pine or other softwood types that have not been artificially regenerated are considered Natural Pine stands. There must be at least a 10% stocking level. Natural pine stands have been decreasing steadily since 1950. These stands now account for approximately 34 million acres and continue to decrease (Wear and Greis 2002).
The majority of the Mixed Oak-Pine stands consists of hardwoods, mainly upland oaks. Pines make up 25-50% of the stand stocking. Stocking will be at least 10%. Mixed oak-pine stands account for approximately 30 million acres in the Southern United States (Wear and Greis 2002).
Upland Hardwood forests are classified as oak-hickory or maple-beech-birch forest types. Stocking is at least 10%. These forests cover over 75 million acres in the South (Wear and Greis 2002).
Forests classed as oak-gum-cypress, elm-ash-cottonwood, palm, or other tropical types are considered Lowland Hardwood forests. Again, the stocking rate is at least 10%. Approximately 30 million acres of the South are classified as lowland hardwood forests (Wear and Greis 2002).
Within the above timber types, there are approximately two million acres classified as non-stocked.
Encyclopedia ID: p1349
