water is in the North Central region, with largest 

 concentrations in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michi- 

 gan. Maine and New York in the Northeast also have 

 numerous inland water areas. 



The northern section also has 42 million acres of 

 other water areas, most of the Nation's total. The 

 largest part of this water area is in the Great Lakes; 

 the remainder is in the coastal estuaries, including 

 Chesapeake and Delaware Bays, Long Island Sound, 

 and New York Harbor. 



The inland waters in the North provide habitat for 

 fish and waterfowl. With the heavy concentration of 

 population, particularly in the Northeast, they are 

 used by tens of millions of people for various outdoor 

 recreation activities. They also provide most of the 

 water used for domestic and industrial purposes in 

 the area. 



The South 



The South stretches from Virginia and Kentucky 

 along the South Atlantic and along the Gulf Coast to 

 include Texas and Oklahoma. Much of this 13-State 

 section is characterized by a subtropical cUmate with 

 mild winters and high humidity, particularly in the 

 coastal plain and Piedmont areas. The Appalachian 

 Mountain area has cool winters and hot summers. In 

 both areas, rainfall is generally ample at all times of 

 the year. In contrast, the plains grasslands ecosystem 

 in west Texas has an arid climate with long, hot 

 summers. 



The Coastal Plain has gentle slopes with little local 

 relief. Marshes, lakes, and swamps are common. The 

 Piedmont is gently sloping with local relief between 

 100 and 600 feet. The southern Appalachian Moun- 

 tains are steep with much relief up to 3,000 feet, and 

 peaks exceeding 6,000 feet. The western grassland 

 ecosystems are characterized by gently rolling plains. 



Soils in the Piedmont and Coastal Plain are usually 

 strongly leached, rich in iron and aluminum oxides, 

 and deficient in many of the plant nutrients essential 

 for successful agricultural production. Loess areas of 

 the Mississippi Valley and flood plains of the major 

 streams have the better soils for crops in the South. 



Forest Land 



The South contains over 532 million acres of land 

 with forests a dominant part of the landscape. Forests 

 cover 41 percent of this area — 219 million acres 

 (table 2.1). 



The importance of forests as vegetative cover varies 

 by region and State within the South. In the five 

 Atlantic seaboard States, 91 million acres, or almost 



Over half of the forest land in the South is grazed. 



two-thirds of the land area, is forested. In the South 

 Central region, comprising eight Gulf Coast and inte- 

 rior States, only one-third of the land area is forested. 

 In the South Central region, forests reach their west- 

 ern limits in the arid rangelands of western Texas and 

 Oklahoma. 



The forest ecosystems of the South include areas 

 that vary from highly productive timberlands to 

 extremely poor sites that are submarginal for invest- 

 ment in timber growing. 



Native forage often grows abundantly beneath 

 timber stands, in natural openings, and on cutover 

 lands, providing food for substantial numbers of 

 range livestock. 



The South is a major timber-producing region. 

 This is largely attributable to the loblolly-shortleaf 

 pine ecosystem, which occupies almost 48 million 

 acres. Loblolly pine is the keystone of the southern 

 pine forest products industry. Except in Florida, 

 where slash pine prevails, loblolly is the dominant 

 pine species in each of the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal 

 tates south of New Jersey. Nearly half of the total 

 southern pine inventory in the United States is of 

 loblolly. 



Although the standing inventory of shortleaf pine 

 is only about half that of loblolly, shorteaf is still far 

 more abundant than longleaf and slash pines com- 

 bined. The heaviest concentration of shortleaf pine is 

 in the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas; other short- 



31 



