FOREST 



RESOURCES 



O F 



SOUTHEASTERN 



TEXAS 



Summary of Findings 



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Loblolly pine, the most prevalent single species, 

 makes up 37 percent of the total board-foot volume 

 in the unit, or about 4% billion board feet. 



Sixty-one percent of the total board-foot volume 

 is in second-growth sawlog-size stands. Old- 

 growth stands, all species combined, contain 37 

 percent of the board-foot volume, or 4% billion 

 feet. 



Reduced to cords, the total sound volume, with 

 bark, of all species 5.0 inches d. b. h. and larger, 

 including upper stems and limbs of both saw- 

 timber and cull trees, is 98 million cords, of which 

 about 54 million is in material not suited for saw 

 timber. This nonsaw-timber material is 32 percent 

 pine and 68 percent hardwood. 



The total cubic-foot volume of sound material 

 in the unit is almost 7 billion cubic feet, of which 50 

 percent is pine and 50 percent hardwood. The 

 volume of sound material in sound trees is slightly 

 over 6 billion cubic feet, while the sound volume 

 in the usable parts of cull trees (both sound 

 and rotten culls) is about 655 million cubic feet 

 (table 10). 



Forest Increment and Drain 



The increment on the saw-timber growing stock 

 during 1935 amounted to 1,268 million board feet 

 (International %-inch rule), a volume increase of 

 approximately 6.5 percent. Since saw-timber 

 material that was harvested totaled 814 million 

 board feet, the stand actually increased only 454 

 million feet. Eighty-six percent of the saw-timber 

 increment occurred on saw-timber stands stocked 

 with a minimum volume of 400 board feet and 

 averaging 4,220 board feet per acre. A large 

 proportion of these stands had a minimum volume 

 of 600 board feet per acre, with an average volume 

 of 4,610 feet. Under prevailing conditions such 



Description of the Survey Unit 



THE total land area of the unit is 9,893,800 

 acres, of which 67 percent is forest and 33 

 percent agricultural. Nine percent of the 

 agricultural land is idle or abandoned (table 1). 



Lands in tax default for 3 or more years ranged 

 in different counties from 3 to 33 percent of the 

 county area. 



The total population of the unit in 1930 was 

 740,000, an increase of 200 percent since 1900. 

 Of this, 60 percent was urban. 



Of the forest area 58 percent is on the rolling up- 

 lands, 20 percent in the flatwoods, and 22 percent 

 in swamps and river bottoms (table 2). 



The shortleaf-loblolly-hardwood type group is 

 present on 60 percent of the forest area; the hard- 

 wood types, on 26 percent; and the longleaf type 

 group, on only 14 percent (table 2). 



Of the net cubic volume in the shortleaf-loblolly- 

 hardwood type group, 73 percent is shortleaf and 

 loblolly pine. 



Of the forest area of the unit, 16 percent is in 

 the old-growth condition; 81 percent, second 

 growth; and 3 percent, clear-cut (table 4). 



The shortleaf-loblolly-hardwood type group has 

 93 percent of its area in second growth, while 65 

 percent of the longleaf type-group area is in this 

 condition. There is more old growth (39 percent) 

 in the hardwood than in any of the other type- 

 group areas. 



Volume Estimates 



The total board-foot volume by the International 

 %-inch rule, which closely approximates green 

 lumber tally, is 19 billion feet. By the Doyle rule, 

 which is used in the following estimates, the total 

 volume is 12 billion board feet (table 6). 



