Development and Economic Importance of Forest 

 Resources and Forest Industries in the South 



The United States has always carried on a substantial 

 volume of trade in timber products with other countries. In 

 recent decades, imports have exceeded exports. This 

 situation is expected to continue. Therefore, part of the 

 demand for timber will be met by net imports, the 

 difference between the two lines in figure 3. Increasingly. 

 however, timber demands will be met by wood from 

 domestic forests. 



Total demands on U.S. timberland rise from 14.6 billion 

 cubic feet in 1984 to 20.3 billion in 2030. The demand on 

 softwood resources (pines, cypress, firs, spruces, hemlocks) 

 increases from 10.3 billion to 12.7 billion cubic feet per 

 year. Annual demand on hardwood resources (oaks, 

 hickories, gums, maples) rises from 4.4 billion to 7.6 billion 

 cubic feet. 



The faster growth in demand for hardwoods largely reflects 

 the increase in their use for pulpwood. fuelwood. and 

 lumber products such as pallets and railroad ties. Much of 

 the increase in the use of timber in recent decades, both 

 softwoods and hardwoods, has been supplied by the forests 

 in the South. Much of the future increase in demands is 

 also likely to be met by timber cut from southern forests. 



Although large areas of the original forest had been cleared 

 for use as cropland and pasture and for other purposes, 

 timber harvesting was not a major factor affecting the 

 forests in the South until after the Civil War. At that time, 

 timber harvesting accelerated as railroads were extended 

 into the vast pine forests on the Coastal Plain, the 

 technology for sawing large volumes of timber came into 

 use. and huge markets for lumber developed in the 

 Midwest and Northeast. From about the 1880's until the 

 1920*s, very large areas were harvested. Some of this land 

 was used for crops and much bigger areas for pasture. 

 Because of such use and uncontrolled fires, which burned 

 over large areas of cutover land each year, only a part of 

 the cutover lands came back to forests. Some did. however, 

 and the early 1900's marked the beginning of what became 

 the South' s second forest — the forest that later supplied the 

 wood for the expansion of the pulp and paper industry in 

 the 1930's and on into the 1960's. 



As the second forest was developing, changes in land use 

 began to have major impacts on the forest situation. By the 

 early 1920's, the use of land for crops and pasture in the 

 South had peaked and started to decline. Concern among 

 forest industry and government leaders about timber supplies 

 and the lack of regeneration of large areas of cutover lands 

 led to ( 1 ) the development of programs of fire protection, 

 technical and financial assistance, research, and education: 

 and (2) the establishment of managed private and public 

 forests. These changes gradually led to new forests in the 

 South. 



Fire protection and the educational programs associated with 

 fire prevention were especially effective, and a large part 

 of the cutover and idle cropland and pasture regenerated 

 naturally. Research that led to ways to protect, regenerate, 

 and manage forests and utilize southern pine timber for 

 products such as pulp and plywood also had major impacts 

 on the resource and forest industries. 



These same forces continued to affect the timber situation 

 for several decades. The programs of protection, technical 

 and financial assistance, research, education, and 

 management of private and public forests expanded, 

 sometimes rapidly, from the 1940's through the 1970"s. The 

 area of land used for crops and pasture continued to drop 

 through the 1950's. sometimes at rapid rates, and much of 

 this land regenerated naturally. 



