Chapter 2 
The Changing Forest Resources and 
Forest Industries in the South 
To the first settlers in the South, the forest 
was a great unending wilderness—it 
stretched from the sea to the plains of 
central Texas and Oklahoma. But these 
forests provided timber for homes, furniture, 
and fuel. They also provided a place for 
grazing livestock and habitat for game. The 
forests have served the people in the South 
long and well. And they do so today. 
