As shown in table 5.9, there are about 7.7 million acres 
in the South that may be classified as highly erodible crop- 
land suitable for planting to trees. Most of these acres 
would be highly productive timber sites, and returns from 
pine plantations could match or exceed long-term earnings 
from crops. Approximately 60 percent of this area, 4.6 mil- 
lion acres, is in the South Central region. Two-thirds of the 
regional total is concentrated in the States of Tennessee, 
Mississippi, and Alabama. Tennessee has almost 1.3 mil- 
lion acres of highly erodible cropland, and Mississippi and 
Alabama have 1.0 and 0.9 million acres, respectively. The 
Southeast region has 3.1 million acres in this category. 
North Carolina and Virginia account for over 67 percent 
of this total, with a little more than a million acres each. 
More than 836 million cubic feet of timber could be pro- 
duced annually on the 7.7 million highly erodible acres 
Southwide. This amount is about two-thirds of the current 
net annual timber growth on pine plantations in the South. 
Half a billion cubic feet could be produced in the South 
Table 5.9—Area of highly erodible cropland! in the South, the 
cost of establishing pine plantations on this land, and the resulting 
net annual timber growth, by State and region 
Highly Net 
Region and erodible Treatment annual growth 
State cropland cost increment 
Thousand Million Million 
acres dollars cubic feet 
Southeast 
Florida 52 353 5.6 
Georgia 659 41.5 71.1 
North Carolina 1,047 65.9 113.1 
South Carolina 299 18.8 3273 
Virginia 1,058 66.7 114.2 
Total 3,115 196.2 336.3 
South Central 
Alabama 851 53.6 91.9 
Arkansas 583 36.7 63.0 
Louisiana 75 4.7 8.1 
Mississippi 1,022 64.4 110.4 
Oklahoma 56 Bha5) 6.0 
Tennessee 1,287 81.1 139.0 
Texas 755 47.4 81.5 
Total 4,629 291.4 499.9 
Southwide total 7,744 487.6 836.2 
' Cropland classified by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Soil 
Conservation Service in land capability classes 3e, 4e, 6e, and 
7e that is also suitable for planting to trees. 
There are about 8 million acres of highly 
erodible cropland in the 12 Southern States. 
If these lands were planted to pine, about 
836 million cubic feet of timber could be 
produced annually. This is enough timber 
to support about a 17-percent expansion of 
the present softwood-using industries in the 
South. 
Central region and 336 million cubic feet in the Southeast 
(fig. 5.16). 
The capital investments needed to plant pine on the highly 
erodible cropland in the South would total about $488 
million, and the financial returns on these acres would range 
from 11 to 15 percent across the South. These figures ex- 
clude the effects of any cost-share payments under the 
Conservation Reserve Program. 
Million cubic feet 
Southeast 336 
‘South Central 500 
Figure 5.16—Potential net annual growth from pine 
plantations established on highly erodible cropland in the 
South, by region 
253 
