SUMMARY 



The Forest Resource Appraisal of North Carolina was 

 undertaken in 1945 as a cooperative project between the 

 American Forestry Association, the Division of Forestry 

 and Parks of N. C. Department of Conservation and De- 

 velopment, and the Division of Forestry of N. C. State 

 College. The North Carolina Appraisal is part of a na- 

 tion-wide survey conducted by the Association to deter- 

 mine the effects of the war period upon the nation's for- 

 ests. In many states, more detailed information was de- 

 sired by the local cooperating agencies than was deemed 

 necessary for the national report. This was the situation 

 in North Carolina. A time limit of one year was imposed 

 for purposes of obtaining the field data and writing the 

 report. 



As North Carolina is divided into 100 counties it was 

 necessary to conduct the survey by sample counties. Twen- 

 ty-one sample counties were carefully chosen from the va- 

 rious topographic units; five were selected in the North 

 Coastal Plain, six in the South Coastal Plain, five in the 

 Piedmont, and five in the Mountain region. Forest area 

 and timber volumes of each county were determined from 

 aerial photographs after a thorough study of ground con- 

 ditions was completed. All volume estimates are net, de- 

 fective material having been deducted at the time of mak- 

 ing ground measurements. Defect is estimated to run 5 to 

 8 per cent of gross volume for pine, and 25 per cent of 

 gross volume for hardwood. Volume tables for under-saw- 

 log-size were developed from existing Forest Survey tables 

 and the International % Inch Rule was used for all saw- 

 timber. 



New forest acreage figures were determined for all coun- 

 ties because of inaccuracies in previous county areas as 

 given by the U. S. Census. The county and State gross 

 acreage figures were corrected by the U. S. Census in 1940, 

 but no new forest acreage figures had been estimated. New 

 acreage figures were also determined for non-forest, cul- 

 tivated, idle, pasture, highway, and other land. Ownership 

 of forest land was divided and listed by counties under the 

 headings; Public forest reserve, commercial forest area, 

 National Forest, farm woodland, and other. 



Sawtimber volumes for the State were developed from 

 the sample counties. The present volume of 41 billion 

 board feet is 6 per cent lower than reported by the Forest 

 Survey in 1938. Pine sawtimber has a volume of 25 billion 

 board feet, hardwood 16 billion. Average sawtimber stands 

 per average forested acre are low. The state average for 

 all sawtimber being 2.2 thousand board feet per acre, 61 

 per cent of which is pine and 39 per cent hardwood. 



Under-sawlog-size trees have gained approximately 12 

 per cent in volume since 1938. The average stand per acre 

 for pine and hardwoods combined is 4.71 cords, 53 per cent 

 of which is pine and 47 per cent is hardwood. 



U. S. Forest Survey figures show that for the 7 year 

 period from 1937 through 1943 the net annual growth for 

 all material 5.0" d.b.h. and larger, was 9,310 thousand 

 cords while the annual drain was 8,552 thousand cords. 



Pine has been over-cut as shown by an annual growth of 

 5,636 thousand cords against an annual drain of 5,847 

 thousand cords. Hardwood growth has definitely gained 

 during this period with an annual growth of 3,674 thous- 

 and cords and drain of 2,705 thousand cords. 



Field data show that North Carolina's forest area is 

 49.9 per cent stocked with sawtimber and under-sawlog- 

 size material, 28.3 per cent stocked with reproduction, and 

 21.8 per cent or* 4 million acres is non-stocked with timber 

 producing tree species. The greatest single cause of non- 

 stocking is the obstruction by culls and worthless hard-, 

 wood brush. 



Lumber production has been fairly constant since 1889. 

 The. average annual cut in North Carolina for the past 56 

 years has been 1.3 billion board feet. 



Pulpwood production has been steadily rising from 240 

 thousand cords in 1937 to 547 thousand cords in 1943. This 

 trend is still upward. 



Fire is a very serious problem, especially in eastern 

 North Carolina. Appraisal results show that approximate- 

 ly 38 per cent of the forest area of the North Coastal 

 Plain and 47 per cent of the forest area of the South 

 Coastal Plain has been burned over in the five year period 

 preceding 1946. For the same period the Piedmont has had 

 a 7.7 per cent burn, while in the Mountain region the burn 

 was 1.2 per cent. 



The problem of regulation of cutting on forest lands 

 was approached and studied, but no definite conclusions 

 were reached except that some provision should be made 

 to prevent the complete removal of pine seed sources and 

 that urgent need does not exist for rules applying to hard-. 

 wood cutting. 



In spite of the unfairness of the present system of class- 

 ifying land for tax purposes, taxes are not unduly high in 

 many counties, the eastern counties having the fairest as- 

 sessment on timberlands. 



It is believed that the State of North Carolina should 

 own and operate State Forests for timber production and 

 demonstration. These forests should be located chiefly in 

 the Piedmont and Coastal Plain; to a lesser extent in the 

 mountains due to existing large Federal ownership. 



Forestry education work has been steadily progressing 

 since the appointment of J. S. Holmes as State Forester 

 in 1909. This phase of forestry is, however, far from being 

 adequate. Of the 1,600 million board of feet of lumber cut 

 in 1943 from 17 million acres of forest land, 300 million 

 feet or less was cut under the influence of educational 

 work. 



* In accordance with the "Conservative Estimates of Acres Plantable 

 by States" by Philip C. Wakeley, Silviculturist, Southern Forest Experi- 

 ment Station, exclusive of the Mountain unit, there are 892,300 acres in 

 North Carolina. The Mountain unit shows 120,700 acres of abandoned 

 cropland which in all probability would have to be reforested artificial- 

 ly. This would give a total of 1,013,000 acres which should be planted to, 

 forest trees in North Carolina. 



VI 



