40 



MISSISSIPPI S FOREST RESOURCES AND INDUSTRIES 





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Figure 40. — Location oj plants {other than sawmills) that process raw forest products, 1946. 



complete utilization of softwood timber in logging for 

 pulpwood than in logging for sawlogs. 



Inroads on the Forest Resource 



The magnitude of the changes in the forest inventory 

 is in itself a measure of how the forest has been and is 

 being reduced to sustain Mississippi's output of timber 

 products. Inventory changes in the 14 years between 

 the two Forest Surveys were detailed on pages 19 to 

 24. They include: the decline in total growing stock 

 by one-tenth; the decline in sawlog volume by one- 

 fourth; the transformation of 2.2 million acres of pine 

 forest types to upland hardwood types ; the high-grad- 

 ing of stands in logging which has reduced quality to 

 the point where about six-tenths of the sawlog inven- 

 tory is low grade and a fourth of the entire growing 

 space is taken up with cull trees ; and the steady attri- 

 tion against larger trees which has reduced the num- 

 bers of all softwood trees in sizes above 8 inches d. b. h. 

 and hardwood trees above 14 inches d. b. h. 



The reduction in total growing stock alone between 

 the two Surveys was enough to provide a tenth of the 



total output of timber products over the same period. 

 In terms of sawlog growing stock, the decline in inven- 

 tory was equal to a fourth of the softwood sawlog 

 production and three-tenths of the hardwood sawlog 

 production during these 14 years. 



Use of Less Desirable Trees 



The changing forest resource has dictated industiy 

 adjustments leading to the use of trees that are below 

 desired sizes and quality and of species formerly re- 

 jected. The adjustments have raised the costs of 

 manufacture and lowered the quality of the product, 

 but they have had the virtue of expanding the usable 

 resource. 



One of the most significant adjustments has come 

 through the replacement of large sawmills with small 

 mills rnanufacturing less than 3 million board feet of 

 lumber annually (fig. 43). These small mills have 

 aided greatly in maintaining lumber output in recent 

 decades during which the size of the average tree has 

 diminished and saw-timber stands have become smaller 

 and more scattered. Their mobility, low costs of 



