The average cost is $63 per acre, about the same as on 
economically marginal cropland and pasture and much be- 
low the average on harvested timberland. 
In summary, net annual timber growth in the South could 
increase by 2.1 billion cubic feet if pine plantations were 
established on all of the marginal cropland and pasture, in- 
cluding the highly erodible land identified in this analysis. 
Total volume is almost two-thirds of the net annual growth 
potential from utilizing all of the economic opportunities 
on timberlands. Taken together, opportunities on timberland 
and cropland and pasture could increase net annual growth 
in the South by 5.3 billion cubic feet. Most of this increase 
would be pine growth. This volume, 5.3 billion cubic feet, 
would represent a 53 percent increase in current net annual 
growth for all species in the South and would nearly dou- 
ble current net annual growth for softwoods (fig. 5.17). 
Billion cubic feet 
Current net annual 
softwood growth 5.7 
Opportunities 
on timberland 
Opportunities on 
cropland and 
pastureland 
Figure 5.17—Economic opportunities to increase current 
net annual timber growth in the South 
254 
A Qualified View of the Opportunities for 
Increasing Timber Supplies 
In appraising the economic opportunities for increasing 
timber supplies presented in this chapter, readers should keep 
in mind two things. First, these opportunities are estimates 
based largely on the judgments of experts drawn from 
universities, forest industries, the Forest Service, and State 
forestry agencies. Second, the estimates include all the tim- 
berland in the defined stand conditions without regard to the 
size or accessibility of tracts, the objectives of the owners, 
or publicly imposed environmental constraints. 
In view of these limitations and constraints, it is obvi- 
ous that the estimates are not an exact measure of the eco- 
nomic opportunities that exist in the South. Nonetheless, 
even after allowances for possible uncertainties, it is 
evident that very large opportunities do exist to invest in 
timber management practices that will yield good rates of re- 
turn and result in major increases in the Nation’s timber 
supplies. It is also clear that the potential exists to dramati- 
cally change the timber outlook in the South in the next 
half-century. In that period, with intensified management, 
enough timber could be produced to greatly diminish or 
eliminate the adverse social, economic, and renewable re- 
source effects that are likely with the base projections. 
With the implementation of the economic opportunities on 
timberland and marginal cropland and pasture, including 
the highly erodible cropland, it would also be possible to 
sustain indefinitely the forestry sector in the South, includ- 
ing employment and wages and salaries. 
But only part of these opportunities are likely to be 
realized. Studies prepared in the late 1960’s and the late 
1970’s and this analysis show that large opportunities con- 
tinue to be unutilized. This may be due in large part to mar- 
ket imperfections in the forestry sector. The market system 
that so effectively guides the production of most goods and 
services works in only a limited way in increasing timber 
supplies. 
