(fig. 31). On the other hand, 2.4 million acres, or 
20 percent of the total forest area, is overstocked.1° 
Overstocked stands are most common in the Piedmont. 
Over a quarter of the stands contain more than the 
desirable number of stems to qualify for optimum stock- 
ing. In the Coastal Plain only 17 percent of the forest 
land is overstocked. 
It would be a mistake to assume that all overstocked 
saw-timber stands are overstocked with saw timber, or 
that all overstocked pole-timber stands contain too many 
pole-timber trees. In some instances this is true, but 
frequently a dense understory of saplings produces this 
overstocked condition; a fifth of the total basal area in 
the State is represented by these sizes. Hardwoods make 
up 55 percent of the basal area of these small trees 
and are abundant in both pine and hardwood stands. 
Poor stocking is especially prevalent in the Coastal 
Plain, which includes the Sandhills. Twenty-nine per- 
cent of the total area is poorly stocked and 16 percent 
is nonstocked. About a fifth of the forest land in the 
State under 10 percent stocked is in the Sandhills 
(fig. 32). In the Piedmont, on the other hand, only 
19 percent of the forest area is poorly stocked and 
10 percent nonstocked. 
* Stocking class, percent of full stocking: Nonstocked, 0 to 9; 
poorly stocked, 10 to 39; fairly well stocked, 40 to 69; well 
stocked, 70 to 100; overstocked, over 100. 
rc 
{ PICKENS 1 
Zia 
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7 
Pa J NEWBERRY ; 
% . 
er 
Sy 
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‘0, 
% ; 
YY 
ici | Walaa oe 
LOS eG aN 
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Yyy Over 50 M acres less i. Re 
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than |O percent stocked 

REGION 
AND 
STOCKING CLASS 
STATE 
OVERSTOCKED 
WELL STOCKED 
FAIRLY WELL STOCKED 
POORLY STOCKED 
NONSTOCKED 
PIEDMONT 
OVERSTOCKED 


WELL STOCKED 

FAIRLY WELL STOCKED 
POORLY STOCKED 
NONSTOCKED 
COASTAL PLAIN 
OVERSTOCKED 

WELL STOCKED 
FAIRLY WELL STOCKED 
POORLY STOCKED 
NONSTOCKED 

ce) ! 2 3 
MILLION ACRES 
FIGURE 31.— Distribution of commercial forest area by stock- 
ing class, 1947. 
FIGURE 32.—Location of heavy 
concentrations of poorly 
stocked forest land, 1947. 
SCALE IN MILES 
1020 3040 
26 Forest Resource Report No. 3, U. S. Department of Agriculture 
