Mortality 



Timber volume is reduced in several ways other 

 than by cutting. The average annual loss during 

 recent years from fire, insects, and disease has been 

 about 83 million board feet, or about 0.3 percent 

 of the inventory volume. 



In 1951 about 250,000 acres of forest land burned 

 in the State (5). This was about the average burn 

 for recent years. The mortality rate does not reflect 

 losses of abnormal years such as 1952, when forest 

 fires got out of control and burned nearly I1/2 mil- 

 lion acres. The State Division of Forestry estimated 

 the 1952 damage at more than I21/9 million dollars. 

 While lack of rain and poor visibility during the 

 critical period contributed to the difficulty in con- 

 trolling the fires, the fire control organization was 

 inadequate to handle the situation. Only 39 coun- 

 ties are in the State's protection program, leaving 

 81 comities without organized fire control. 



Most of Kentucky's fires are man-caused; some of 

 them are set intentionally. If protection from fire 

 were extended to all forest land, most of the timber 

 that is now lost to fire every year could be saved. 

 Moreover, if fire damage to soil and trees were elim- 

 inated, the trees would be more vigorous and less 

 scarred, and so less susceptible to insect and disease 

 attacks. 



Decay has reduced the voltmne of merchantable 

 material in sawtimber trees by 2 billion board feet 

 or about 7 percent of gross volume. In addition, the 

 gioss volume of rotten cull trees is estimated at 

 about 2 billion cubic feet. Much of this loss from 

 decay starts with fire damage. 



At the present time elm and the oaks are threat- 

 ened by diseases in Kentucky, and research is under 

 way to find controls. How disastrous some tree dis- 

 eases can be is evidenced by the chestnut blight that 

 has destroyed 10 percent of the sawtimber in the 

 Eastern Highlands region (2). 



Timber Drain 



For the State as a whole, sawtimber drain in 1948 

 totaled 734 million board feet. This includes the 

 material that actually went into finished products 

 plus the merchantable material wasted in the woods 

 and mills. Not included is the volume of products 

 made from dead and cull trees or trees from land 

 not classified as forest. Approximately 75 percent 

 of the board-foot drain went into lumber and 14 

 percent into fuelwood. Hardwood species made up 



more than 90 percent of the sawtimber drain; the 

 oaks accounted for about half of it. 



More than 35 percent of the total sawtimber drain 

 was in high-quality logs (grades 1 and 2) . Most of 

 this material— more than 200 million board feet- 

 was sawed into lumber. About 44 million board 

 feet— almost entirely white oak— went into cooper- 

 age; more than 9 million board feet was cut into 

 veneer; and 51/2 million board feet of hickory and 

 ash was used by handle manufacturers. 



The drain on the growing stock amounted to 161 

 million cubic feet (fig. 25). Of this about 56 mil- 

 lion cubic feet was cut from pole trees. Most of this 

 poletimber drain was from oak, and was used for 

 fuelwood and mine timbers. Nearly all of the mine- 

 timber drain was concentrated in the Eastern Hiarh- 

 lands region. 



Logging waste, i.e., high stumps, unused top logs, 

 and miscut logs, does not appear to be great in Ken- 

 tucky. In 1948 the total volume of such material 

 left after logging in sawtimber stands was 42 million 

 board feet, less than 6 percent of the total drain. In 

 Kentucky much of the wood normally left as waste 

 is later cut into fuelwood, resulting in the low log- 

 ging waste figure. 



Trends in Timber J^olume 



In 1948 the annual timber growth of Kentucky 

 amounted to 1.2 billion board feet and exceeded the 

 drain by 455 million board feet. This increased 

 the inventory volume by nearly 2 percent. All spe- 

 cies except beech grew faster than they were cut 

 (fig. 26). The pine volume shows an increase mainly 

 because so much of it is in the national or State 

 forests where the growing stock is being built up 

 systematically. The white oak group shows an 

 especially favorable growth-drain balance largely 

 because post oak and chestnut oak are not being 

 heavily cut. Yellow-poplar is in great demand and 

 is cut about as fast as it grows. The other hardwoods 

 as a group show a large increase because the demand 

 for many of these species is not great since their 

 quality is generally low. 



The board-foot growth-drain balance appears to 

 be more favorable than it actually is. Most of the 

 increase in sawtimber volume is in trees of small 

 diameter and consequently of low quality. The 

 annual ingrowth of poles into the sawtimber class 

 amoimts to about 538 million board feet and the 

 growth of trees in the 12- and 14-inch diameter 



20 



Forest Resource Report No. 7, U. S. Department of Agriculture 



