The State of South Carolina's Forests, 2001

Book excerpt: Forest land area in South Carolina amounted to 12.4 million acres, including 12.2 million acres of timberland. Nonindustrial-private timberland amounted to 8.9 million acres, a decline of less than 1 percent since 1993. Family forest owners dominate the private ownership group with 357,000 landowners who collectively control 7.1 million acres of forest land in the State. Timberland area under forest industry ownership continued to decline, falling from 2.3 million acres in 1993 to just over 2.0 million acres in 2001. Loblolly pine remains the predominant softwood forest type and occupied 5.0 million acres, up 16 percent since 1993. Planted pine stands amounted to 3.1 million acres and outnumbered stands of natural pine by 150,000 acres. Total volume in all live species amounted to 19.7 billion cubic feet, surpassing all previous inventory estimates. All live softwood volume increased 16 percent to 9.4 billion cubic feet, due primarily to an increase of 1.7 billion cubic feet in loblolly pine volume. Net annual growth for all live softwoods doubled since 1992, averaging 692 million cubic feet per year. Hardwood net growth rose 63 percent and averaged 306 million cubic feet per year since the previous survey. Growth exceeds removals for both species groups, reversing the negative relationship that resulted in the aftermath of Hurricane Hugo.