When the value added from harvesting the timber and 

 transporting it to rail sidings, concentration yards, or other 

 local points of delivery is included, the value of roundwood 

 timber output in the South was $6.1 billion in 1984. The 

 value of softwood products was approximately $4.5 billion, 

 that of hardwood products. $1.6 billion. 



South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama. Mississippi, and 

 Louisiana. In Alabama, roundwood timber products almost 

 equaled in value the total for all other crops. In the other 

 five States, the value of roundwood products was equivalent 

 to two-fifths to three-fifths of total values of all other 

 crops. 



The $6.1 billion of roundwood timber products in 1984 was 

 twice the value of soybeans or cotton harvested and three 

 times the value of tobacco, wheat, or corn crops in the 

 South (all values at local points of delivery) (fig. 5). With 

 a few exceptions, the value of the timber harvest exceeded 

 the value of these crops State by State as well. Compared 

 to total agricultural production Southwide, there was $1 of 

 roundwood timber output for every $3 of other agricultural 

 crops. 



The timber harvested in 1984 ranked among the top three 

 agricultural crops in terms of value of production in all 12 

 Southern States. It was first in value in six States — Virginia. 



Billion dollars 

 6.1 



2.9 



2.5 



1.9 



1.9 



B 



1.7 



Timber Soybeans Cotton Tobacco Wheat 



products 



Corn 



Figure 5 — Value at local points of delivery of roundwood 

 timber products and the highest valued agricultural crops 

 in the South. 1984 



Round timber products (sawlogs. veneer logs, and 

 pulpwood) are the raw material for forest industries, which 

 are composed of approximately 17,000 sawmills, pulp and 

 paper plants, millwork and furniture plants, wood-preserving 

 plants, and other manufacturing plants that process wood 

 or wood products in some form. 



In relation to all manufacturing in the South in 1982, forest 

 industries employed one out of every nine workers, paid 

 $1 out of every $10 in wages and salaries, and produced $1 

 out of every $1 1 of value added by manufacturing. 

 Aggregate employment and income in the forest industries 

 across the South exceeded those in other major 

 manufacturing industries, such as textiles, apparel, 

 nonelectrical machinery, food products, electric and 

 electronic equipment, chemicals, and transportation 

 equipment (fig. 6). The forest industries ranked first or 

 second in economic importance among manufacturing 

 industries in over half the States in the South. 



Wages and salaries in the forest industries support 

 employment and income in all the other parts of the 

 economy producing goods and services for forest industry 

 firms and their employees. An additional $1 paid out in 

 wages and salaries by a forest industry firm increases total 

 income in the economy by about $2.40. 



It is clear that forests in the South have come back a long 

 way since the early 1900's, when fires were uncontrolled 

 and huge areas of cutover timberland were idle and 

 unproductive. Today, timberland is the major land use. the 

 source of the highest valued agricultural crop, and the base 

 for the leading manufacturing industry in terms of 

 employment and income. But there are still opportunities for 

 further progress, opportunities to greatly increase the forest 

 wealth of the South. 



17 



