Printed by the Alabama Forestry Commission with appreciation to the Alabama International Trade Center, Alabama Power Company, Auburn Forest Products Development Center, USDA Forest Service and was awarded a W. Kelly Mosley Environmental Grant Award for Forestry.
Photo Cover by Dan
Brothers)
Alabama has the second largest commercial forest in the nation following Georgia. According to the 1990 Alabama Forest Inventory Survey, there are nearly 22 million acres of forest land growing over 15 billion trees, or two-thirds of Alabama's land is covered with forests. Today there are more timbered acres in Alabama than surveys have ever recorded.
Alabama's forests consist of four major types - pine, pine-hardwood mixture, bottomland hardwood and upland hardwood. These stands cover eight major physiographic regions which provide the conditions for species diversity. South Alabama is abundant in pure stands of pine. From South to North, the type changes to mixed pine-hardwood conditions and then to more complex hardwood forests near the Tennessee boundary. Alabama's timbered area by types has generally remained the same over the last 20 years; 7.4 million acres growing pine; 4.5 million acres growing a mixture of pine and hardwoods; 10 million acres growing hardwoods.
Man's manipulation has brought changes to Alabama's forests. As decades of forest use are observed, a reversal toward domination by hardwood species can be seen. Pine was the major forest type earlier in this century. Later, an increase in hardwood acres saw a responding drop in pine acres. However, the last 20 years have shown no significant upward or downward trend in pine and hardwood acreage . The natural tendency of a Southern forest is to grow to a climax stand of pure hardwood trees.
Alabama's warm, temperate climate with an eight-month growing season nurtures nearly 300 species of trees and woody plant. There are 12 commercial softwood species and over 30 hardwood species of importance to the forest industry. There are an estimated 15 billion of these commercially important trees throughout the state.
A historical commitment to reforestation has proven that Alabama continues to lead the U.S. in both accessible and available forests. Tree planting in Alabama has risen throughout this century - from 52 acres in 1928, to over 200,000 acres in 1994 . Tree planting has exceeded this 200,000 acres plateau every year since 1982, representing millions of new trees.
Alabama has the capacity to produce 240 million seedings annually. There are nine nurseries in the state - six forest industry nurseries, one independent private nursery and one state nursery. This capacity insures adequate supplies of genetically improved seedings for both hardwood and pine and can comfortably regenerate 300,000 acres per growing season.
Alabama forests are at their highest stocking level ever. The Latest survey report shows that there is totally 23 billion cubic feet of growing stock on Alabama's timber land, of which 11 billion cubic feet are softwoods and 12 billion cubic feet are hardwood. Commercial forests in Alabama support 13 cords of timber per acre. Yearly growth on these forests is over one-half of one cord of timber every acre.
| Year | Total Growing Stock
(MMCF) |
Softwood Growing Stock
(MMCF) |
Hardwood Growing Stock
(MMCF) |
|
| 1973 | 20,212 million CF | 11,283 million CF | 8,929 million CF | |
| 1982 | 21,706 million CF | 11,656 million CF | 10,050 million CF | |
| 1990 | 23,075 million CF | 11,101 million CF | 11,974 million CF |
Compared to the figures reported in the 1982 survey, the recent survey (1990) showed that the growing stock inventory of softwood is down by 2% over the period from 1982 to 1990. However, hardwood inventory volume is significantly up by 21% in the same period. Hardwood growth increased over the period from 1982 to 1990 by 52%. This boost in volume and growth occurred even though there was an increase in the use of hardwoods by pulp mills. According to USDA Forest Service, growth is up dramatically because of increases in vigor and apparent better management of existing stands.
Of the softwood growing stock inventory, 97% is Southern pine. Sawtimber volume for pine showed little change since 1982 for 1 total of 42.8 billion board feet. Hardwood sawtimber volume is up 34% to 33.4 billion board feet. Enough lumber exists in Alabama's forest to build and furniture nearly three million houses.
Alabama is cutting more pine volume than is grown on an annual basis. Pine volume removed exceeded volume grown by 10.6% through most of the 1980s. In responding to this trend, new planting and forest management programs have been put in place and are having a positive impact. This "drain" in pine is regional in nature. Indications of change show that certain areas are being more heavily cut than others. This is particularly true through the mid-section of Alabama and includes North Central Alabama. North Central Alabama has a critical problem with softwood overcutting. This was caused by a combination of loss of commercial forestland and inadequate planting. Southeast and West Central Alabama show significant cutting, but indications are that planting programs currently in place will ease this in the short run.
| Year | Total Removal
(MMCF) |
Total Growth
(MMCF) |
||
| 1990 | 720 million CF | 658 million CF | ||
| 1982 | 625 million CF | 625 million CF | ||
| 1973 | 526 million CF | 788 million CF |
| Year | Total Removal
(MMCF) |
Total Growth
(MMCF) |
||
| 1990 | 214million CF | 566 million CF | ||
| 1982 | 227 million CF | 373 million CF | ||
| 1973 | 526 million CF | 399 million CF |
The U.S. Forest Service concluded that "changes in the character of Alabama's forests have accelerated over the past eight years. Increases in softwood inventory have stalled during a period of conversion from older mature stands, but will likely recover over the next 5 to 10 years. The degree of the recovery will depend heavily on the amount of the growth from newly established pine stands and future trends in softwood removals. Hardwood inventory expanded as general improvements in the stocking of hardwood stands resulted from increase cutting.
Editors Note: See latest survey at...Alabama Forest Owners Survey
Forestry in Alabama, like most of the South Central region of the U.S., is controlled by many small private owners. The typical Alabama non-industrial forest owner controls a relatively small forested tract of around 80 acres. These "small" owners - typically less than 500 acres - hold nearly 50 percent of the total commercial forested acreage. Small ownerships comprise nearly 11 million acres.
As 1990 timber owner survey reported 214,241 timber ownerships in Alabama. This was down 4 percent from a similar report done in 1982. This loss occurred due to urbanization and consolidation of ownerships. Within the state there tends to be a significant difference when comparing North to South Alabama. North Alabama supports a large number of owners and small average tract sizes, while South Alabama supports a small owner number with larger average acres. Cullman, Jefferson and Marshall Counties have the largest number of owners with typically the smallest average tract sizes in Alabama. Montgomery, Lowndes and Chambers Counties have the least number of owners with the largest average tract sizes.
For the rest of the Alabama's timberland, the larger non-industrial private owner, greater than 500 acres, owns 4.8 million acres or 22% of the forest. Forest industry owns 3.9 million acres or 18%; other corporations own 1.3 million acres or 6%; and government owns 1.1 million acres or 5% . This is the typical pattern for forest ownerships in the Southern United States.