North Carolina State Library 

 Raleigh 



Planning Implications 



Realizing that the forests of the Albemarle Area are one of 

 Its major resources, what can be done from a planning standpoint to 

 aid in its further development and what precautions should be taken 

 to protect it? 



First of all, it must be kept in mind that forest land makes 

 up the dominent land use in the area. The following table shows 

 the land area by class in the Albemarle Area as contrasted with 

 the Northern Coastal Plain and North Carolina. Almost 70 percent 

 of the total land area in the Albemarle region is in forests, a 

 higher figure than for the Northern Coastal Plain or the rest of 

 North Carolina. 



TABLE 8 - AREA BY LAND CLASS, ALBEMARLE AREA, 



NORTHERN COASTAL PLAIN, NORTH CAROLINA 



(In Thousands of Acres) 



ALL LAND FOREST LAND 

 TOTAL ACRES ACRES PERCENT 



NONFOREST LAND 

 ACRES PERCENT 



Albemarle Area 2,100.6 



Rest of N.C. Plain 4,679.7 

 North Carolina 31,403.0 



1,431.3 68.1 



2,910.0 62.2 



20,500.0 65.2 



669.3 31.9 



1,769.7 37.8 



10,903.0 34.8 



Secondly, a large proportion of the total commercial forest 

 land held by nonindus trial owners is in tracts of 150 acres or more, 

 71 percent. And this land is owned by only 13 percent of the total 

 nonindus tri al owners. The following tables show the distribution 

 of nonindus tri al forest owners for the region and the total amount 

 of land owned by each group. 



Although there are many owners of small forest tracts (less 

 than 150 acres), most of the noncommercial forest land is concen- 

 trated in holdings that can be profitably managed for sustained 

 yield. 



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