10 



in 



I 



'I 



5 



AVERAGE BASAL AREA PER ACRE FOR- 

 GOOD SAWTIMBER STANDS 

 AVERAGE STAND IN KENTUCKY 



4 26 28 30 32 34 



14 16 18 20 



D. B. H. CLASS (INCHES) 

 Figure \9.—Ai'erage basal area per acre by diameter class. 



age, it is still onl) one-third to one-half what the 

 forest area could support. Virgin stands probablv 

 a\eraged 8,000 to 10.000 board feet per acre with 

 individual stands going higher than 40,000 board 

 feet. 



Because the volume and equality of Kentucky 

 timber has been so greatly reduced in the past 100 

 years, most of the large sawmills have moved out 

 leaving many small, portable sawmills to take their 

 place. 



Board-foot volume by region .—\houx. bb percent 

 of the State's sawtimber is in the Eastern Highlands 

 region. Here the average per acre is nearly 2,500 

 board feet. More than 60 percent of the sawtimber 

 area is classed as large sawtimber (stands with more 

 than half their board-foot volume in trees 15 inches 

 d.b.h. and larger) . Much of this large sawtimber is 

 in stands that were considered inaccessible during 

 early logging periods, or in species that were not 

 wanted at the time of earlier logging. 



Forty percent of the sawtimber is in the Western 

 Plateau region. The forest area of this region aver- 

 ages about 2,000 board feet per acre, with nearly 

 half of the sawtimber area classed as large sawtim- 



ber. Almost all of the stands are readily accessible 

 and have been cut over a number of times. 



The remaining 5 percent of the sawtimber is in 

 the Bluegrass region. Because this is a farming re- 

 gion and almost all of the timber is readily acces- 

 sible, the demand for fencing and farm construction 

 materials is great. As a result the average volume 

 per acre is only 1,000 board feet. Only 35 percent of 

 the sawtimber area is classified as large sawtimber. 



Board-foot volume by species.—'Nea.rly half the 

 25 billion board feet of sawtimber is made up of 

 oak— chiefly black oak, white oak, and chestnut oak 

 (fig. 20). The latter is found mostly on the dry 

 ridgetops in the Eastern Highlands region. 



Hardwood species that are suitable for pulp and 

 for container veneers, as well as for lumber, make 

 up more than 6 billion board feet. Such species are 

 beech, yellow-poplar, gum, cottonwood, basswood, 

 and soft maple, and most of them are found chiefly 

 in the Western Plateau region. Yellow-poplar and 

 basswood are most common in the coves of the East- 

 ern Hisfhlands region. 



Board-foot volume by diameter class.— Nemh 40 

 percent of the boaicl-foot ^ollune is in sawtimbei 



16 



Forest Resource Refjorl So. 7, ['. ,V. Dcjxntmeiil of .4griculture 



