trees less than 14 inches in diameter (fig. 21). For 

 the most part, thrifty, well-formed trees 14 inches 

 and smaller in size should be saved to build up the 

 sawtimber stands and to produce a future crop of 

 high-quality sawlogs. It will take only 10 to 15 years 

 for many of these small, thrifty trees to grow into 

 the 16- and 18-inch diameter classes. 



SPECIES 



VOLUME 



PINE 



OTHER SOFTWOODS 



WHITE OAK 

 CHESTNUT OflK 

 OTHER WHITE OAKS 



BLACK OAK 

 NORTHERN RED OAK 

 OTHER RED OAKS 



HICKORY 

 ASH 



YELLOW-POPLAR 

 SWEETGUM a BLACKGUM 

 BASSWOOD 

 SOFT MAPLE 



BEECH 



SUGAR MAPLE 

 SYCAMORE 

 BLACK WALNUT 

 OTHER HARDWOODS 



1 







r 



































































— 























— 





r ■'.-.' 



4i^ 























12 3 4 



BILLION BOARD FEET 



FiGLiRE 20.— Net board-foot volume on commercial forest laud 

 by species. 



Nearly 30 percent of the sawtimber volume is in 

 16- and 18-inch trees. These trees have reached the 

 minimum diameter limit required by some users of 

 high-quality logs and are now adding quality 

 growth. The remaining 30 percent of the board-foot 

 volume is in trees 20 inches and larger. The volume 

 in these trees (nearly 8 billion board feet) could 

 sustain the present industry for more than 10 years 

 if all the trees were accessible and available to exist- 



ing markets. More than 60 percent of the volume in 

 the 20-inch and larger trees is in the Eastern High- 

 lands region. 



Board-foot volume by stand-size class.— Most of 

 the sawtimber volume in Kentucky occurs in stands 

 heavy enough to be cut at a profit (fig. 22). More 

 than 85 percent of the sawtimber volume is in saw- 

 timber stands. Nearly 60 percent is in large saw- 

 timber stands that average more than 5,000 board 

 feet per acre; about 25 percent is in small sawtimber 

 stands that average about 3,000 board feet per acre. 



Poletimber stands average only a little more than 

 700 board feet per acre. Nearly 70 percent of this 

 volume is in 12- and 14-inch trees. Ordinarily these 

 trees will not be cut until more trees in the stand 

 reach sawtiinber size. 



DIAMETER CLASS 



(INCHES) 



VOLUME 



12-14 

 16-18 

 20-22 

 24-26 

 28 PLUS 



1 1 ! 



1 



1 1 1 





1 





1 



\ 







1 





1 







I 





2 4 6 8 

 BILLION BOARD FEET 



Figure 2\.~Distribution of board-foot volume b\ tree-diam- 

 eter class. (The 12- to 14-inch class includes 406 million 

 board feet of conifers in the 10-inch class.) 



Seedling and sapling stands and nonstocked 

 stands have only scattered sawtimber trees. It will 

 be several decades before these stands become 

 sawtimber. 



(hifility of the Timber 



Timber buyers and woods operators look for 

 quality timber when they appraise a forest. Only 

 on a small part of the forest land, chiefly on the 

 Cumberland National Forest and on State-owned 

 forests, are efforts generally directed toward grow- 

 ing quality timber. Private timber owners usually 

 allow timber buyers to cut the choice timber, 

 whether mature or not, and leave culls and unde- 

 sirable species standing in the woods. As a result 

 nearly 85 percent of the hardwood sawtimber vol- 

 ume in Kentucky is in low-quality logs. Such logs 



Kentucky's Forest Resources and Industries 



17 



