NORTH CAROLINA FOREST RESOURCES AND INDUSTRIES 



The Volume of the Forest Resource 



->^- 



-<«- 



THE estimates of standing timber in the State 

 refer to the volume in all trees 5 inches d. b. h. and 

 larger, including the dead chestnut. Volumes 

 are estimated in three units of measure: Board feet, 

 cords, and cubic feet. 



Broad-foot Volume 



In 1938 the saw-timber volume in North Carolina 

 amounted to nearly 44 billion board teet, when scaled by 

 the International %-inch log rule. This rule closely ap- 

 proximates green-lumber tally and results in materially 

 higher estimates than those obtained by the Doyle rule 

 commonlv used in the State. This enormous volume of 

 wood constituted nearly 3 percent of all the saw timber in 

 the United States and about 11 percent of the total stand 

 in the South. Georgia, with 46 billion board feet, 6 is the 

 only State in the South that has more saw timber. More 

 than half of North Carolina's saw timber is located in the 

 Coastal Plain (fig. 25). 



Volume by Species 



SPECIES GROUP 

 AND REGION 



VOLUME 



SOFTWOODS 



COASTAL PLAIN 



PIEDMONT 



MOUNTAINS 



HARDWOODS 



COASTAL PLAIN | 



PIEDMONT 



MOUNTAINS 



5 10 15 



BILLION BOARD FEET 



Figure 25. — Distribution of board-foot volume (International Yi-inch rule), 

 1938. 



> Definitions of the three kinds of volume and other terms are given 

 in the appendix, p. 70. 



6 Spillers, A. R., and Fldredge, I. F. Georgia forest resources 

 and industries. U. S. Dept. Agr. Misc. Pub. 501, 70 pp., illus. 1943. 



Two-thirds ot the total saw-timber volume is softwood 

 (tables 13 and 38 and fig. 26). Loblolly pine, totaling 16 

 billion board teet, makes up nearly three-fifths of the soft- 

 wood volume and is by far the leading species in the State. 

 In the Coastal Plain it accounts for 54 percent of the total 

 saw-timber volume. Shortleaf pine has one-fifth of the 

 softwood volume, ranks second, and in the piedmont con- 

 stitutes almost half ot the saw timber. North Carolina 

 was once famous for its vast stands of longleaf pine, but 

 these have been succeeded on logged land by loblolly pine 

 and at present there is less than a billion board feet of long- 

 leaf timber in the State. Pond pine, Virginia pine, and 

 cypress are also important components of the softwood 

 volume. Pond pine is a much disparaged but extensively 

 used species native to the swamps of the Coastal Plain. Its 

 chief virtue is that it will grow into reasonably good saw 

 timber on sites too rigorous for most other species. The 1 

 billion board feet of cypress occurs in scattered stands in 

 the swamps and along the rivers ot the tidewater area. 

 The best stands are in Tyrrell County, along the lower 

 reaches ot the Roanoke River, and in the bottom lands near 

 the junction of the Meherrin and Chowan Rivers. White- 

 cedar is not abundant but a large part of the remaining 

 supply on the Atlantic Coast is located in Tyrrell County 

 and the North Carolina portion of the Dismal Swamp. 



The hardwood volume, which is about one-third of 

 the total saw timber, is distributed rather uniformly 

 among the groups ot hardwood species. Black and water 

 tupelos combined are the most abundant hardwoods 

 in the Coastal Plain, and sweetgum is a close second.' 

 Not all of the volume ot red and white oak is good saw 

 timber; a number ot species, such as scarlet oak in the 

 mountains, post oak in the piedmont, and water oak in 

 the Coastal Plain, are of rather poor quality. Normally 

 yellow poplar is in constant demand for lumber and 



'There are considerable differences in the machining properties of 

 these three species, all ot which are sometimes loosely called "gum." 

 See Davis, E. M. machining and related characteristics or 

 southern hardwoods. U. S. Dept. of Agr. Tech. Bui. 824, 42 pp. 

 illus. 1942. 



28 





