Back Home

           Alabama's Forest land - Who is in Control?
                                
                                
Presented at the Alabama Forestry Association Woodland Managers Meeting - August 21, 1996
                                
                               by
                         Steve Nix, Alabama RF 745

There are new findings that may change how Alabama's forestry community
perceives owners of Alabama forests.  In the past, it was believed that this owner
was private and non-industrial in nature and was small in size.  To some extent this
is still true...but just how true?  And to what degree does this small owner of timber
control the nearly 21 million acres of forests?

The Alabama Forestry Commission assisted the U. S. D. A. Forest Service in a
survey of owners of timberland in Alabama.  The survey started during 1993 and the
data collected resulted in a draft document called The Private Forest land Owners
of the United States, 1994-Data Tables: South - Review Draft.  It will soon be
published as a report on the southern forest owner.

The Alabama portion is a subset of the full southern document and will not be
published separately.  This report is an attempt to preview these data and give a first
glance at the Alabama portion.

An 18 question form was mailed to hundreds of random Alabama forest owners.  It
was voluntary.  Only broad statistical information was collected and the response
was held in strictest confidence.

The data is based on a sample of private Alabama timber owners who were picked
by systematic grid points taken from a map.  Their forest acreage had to be at least
16% stocked with trees, their property not currently developed for non-forest use,
and had a forest size of 1 acre or more..

How Does Alabama Compare With The South?  

Alabama has 445,500 forest owners.  These owners manage from one acre, to
thousands of acres of pine and hardwood trees and, at present, we can assume that
the owners still control their forests. This assumption should not be taken for
granted in the future with State and Federal environmental regulation growing
increasingly popular.

Statistically speaking, one of every four people owns a forest in Alabama. This
diverse group holds the key to the health and wealth of timberland in the state. It
would be to our advantage to study and analyze the group.
These  445,500 tree growers make up approximately 9% of the South's 4.9 million
owners.  North Carolina has the distinction of having the largest number of forest
owners -  705,000 owners of timberland.  Alabama is fourth, according to the
survey, and has more owners than eight other Southern States.

When you compare this total private Alabama forest to the South, however, it
follows only Georgia in total forested private acres.  These 20.8 million acres make
up 11 percent of the forests of the South.  So, even though Alabama has a larger than
average number of owners, the state has a large land base to be owned. 


Alabama Private Forests are Larger than We Thought...

Ninety-five percent of Alabama's forest is private...and eighty-nine percent of these
private forest ownerships are owned by people or corporations with less than 50 acres. 
Does this indicate that we are a state of small owners?

Only in one sense...

Past surveys supported the notion that there were many small owners in Alabama
controlling the state's trees.  In fact, ownerships of timber in Alabama, are relatively
large when compared on an acreage controlled basis.

Although a greater percentage of forest owners own small tracts, eighty-seven
percent of Alabama's forest acreage is held by owners with 50 or more acres. 
These 60,000 larger owners actually are in control of the state's timberland.  And
the general agreement among forestry professionals is that larger owners are more
likely to seek forestry advice.  This advice could make a dramatic difference in how
our future forest is managed...

Another point to ponder is the actual influence of the forest industry.  Although less
than one percent of Alabama owners are corporations, 34% of Alabama's forests
are owned or managed by forest industry.  In contrast, owners with less than 50
acres control only 13% of the total forest.  The forest industry influences, either
directly or indirectly, a major portion of our forest resource.  It's role as a leader in
Alabama forest management cannot be overlooked.

The Typical Alabama Forest Landowner...

The average forest owner is not a farmer or a teacher or a preacher.  The study
indicates that most owners of forest land in Alabama are either white collar
professionals or older retired persons.  Most foresters who practice in Alabama have
known this because of their client base...

This professional/retiree controls 67% of forest ownerships while farmers only
control 5%.  The traditional thinking was that farmers owned the forest.  
These owners also tend to be older - 27% of Alabama Forest land is owned by
someone over 65, 59% of the forest is owned by someone over 55.

These owners live close to their forests.  Many single tract owners live less than 1
mile from their land.  Although 57% of timber owners live away from their property,
fully 43% of tree owners live less than a mile from their woods.  Eight million acres
of forest tracts are located less than 1 mile from the owner.

A typical forest owner might be an older retired executive living on or close to
his/her forest...

Forest Land Turnover and Fragmentation...

An interesting part of the survey was the acquisition date of  tracts. Seventy five
percent of Alabama's forested tracts changed hands in the decades after World War
II.  Nearly twenty-five percent of all ownerships have changed during the 1980s alone. 
There are significant numbers of "new" owners of forests in Alabama...and they may
not be old hands at managing trees.

Forest Industry also increased it's ownerships during this time. The industry nearly
doubled it's Alabama land holdings after WWII.  Thirty-one percent of the total
forest industry land procurement was made during the 1960s. 

Unavailable at this time is Alabama data to confirm a fragmentation of tracts. 
However, there is evidence of this throughout the south.  According to a report
published in Forest Farmer called Southern Private Forest Landowners: A Profile ,
"Parceling, the breaking of larger forested tracts into smaller parcels, is occurring at
a rapid rate in the South.  Forest land in tracts smaller than 10 acres increased by 2.8
million acres (51 percent) between 1978 and 1994".  There is a trend toward an
increase of the smaller acre size classes.

Why Do Landowners Own Forest land?

Alabama landowners were asked several questions about ownership and their
intentions to harvest.  These questions were enlightening as to the intent of future
land management.

Private forest landowners in Alabama indicated that they primarily own forest
property as an investment (32 percent) or for esthetic enjoyment (28 percent)...but
when you asked this same question to owners who controlled most of the
timberland, they indicated that the primary reason they held timberland was for
timber income.  This timber income response came from owners who controlled 11
million acres; over half the forest land.

Although the majority of owners are not interested in timber income, a primary
concern for owners who control the acreage is timber income. 
Even more interesting is the fact that nearly half of all landowners responded that
they would never harvest timber.  But when the same question was asked of owners
by acres controlled, ninety percent of acreage in Alabama has an owner who is
considering a future harvest option in the next 10 years.  Only 1.6 million acres of
Alabama Forest land have owners that would never harvest...

Conclusions...

***Alabama is a leader in the South for both private forest ownerships and privately
controlled acreage.

***Although Alabama's forest has hundreds of thousands of owners, a much smaller
number actually controls this forest.

***Although less than one percent of Alabama's owners are corporations, one third
of Alabama's forests are owned or managed by forest industry.

***A typical forest owner is an older retired person or executive living on or close
to his property.

***There are significant numbers of "new" owners of forested tracts in Alabama
and they may need advice on managing their new investment.

***Timber income is the primary reason for forest ownership according to the
majority of forest acreage owners.

***Ninety percent of private forest acreage in Alabama will be considered for a
future timber harvest within 10 years.



Supporting Documents:
The Private Forest-land Owners of the United States, 1994, Data Tables:South, Review Draft;
USDA Forest Service, Northeastern Forest Experiment Station; Thomas W. Birch