Summary of Survey Findings 

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ORESTS are among South Carolina’s most valuable 
assets. All together, forested land of South Carolina 
adds up to 62 percent of the total land area. The 
annual harvest of timber provides the raw material for 
a group of manufacturing industries ranking second only 
to textiles in value of products. These forest industries 
provide 35,000 jobs and furnish the major means of 
livelihood to at least 100,000 people. 
TIMBER SUPPLY SHRINKING 
Between 1936 and 1947 the total volume of sound 
trees 5.0 inches and larger decreased by 5 percent. Saw 
timber declined by 10 percent. Pine, which took the 
brunt of the reductions in board-foot volume, decreased 
by. 12 percent; hardwood volume dropped only 6 per- 
cent. Overcutting was particularly severe in the southern 
Coastal Plain; here pine saw timber declined by 29 
percent and hardwood by 16 percent. 
Pole timber, both pine and hardwoods, was also 
heavily overcut in the southern Coastal Plain. These 
losses, however, were more than offset during the period 
by a large increase in pole timber in the Piedmont. 
TIMBER DEMANDS GROWING 
The decline in timber volumes is mainly the result 
of a growing demand for timber by local forest indus- 
tries. The completion of two large pulp and paper mills 
in 1937 and their subsequent expansion increased the 
total pulping capacity in the State from 100 tons per 
24 hours in 1936 to over 2,000 tons in 1949. Thus, 
pulpwood drain has increased from only 49,000 cords 
in 1936 to nearly 1 million cords in 1946, and in this 
latter year amounted to 20 percent of the total drain. 
The lumber industry has also expanded. Since 1936, the 
number of active sawmills in the State has doubled; con- 
sequently, sawlogs for lumber production still account 
for nearly one-half the total drain and two-thirds of 
the saw-timber drain. Also, the number of veneer plants 
has nearly doubled and miscellaneous small plants such 
as handle plants, stave mills, and shingle mills have 
increased in number from 34 in 1936 to 81 in 1946, 
Timber Supply Outlook in South Carolina 
Ke 
These expansions in the forest industries have added 
300 million board feet to the saw-timber drain, or a 
million cords to the total drain. The total drain was 
25 percent more in 1946 than in 1936. 
SERIOUS OVERCUTTING OF BEST TIMBER CONTINUES 
A comparison of growth and drain in 1946 disclosed 
a continuation of overcutting which accelerated sharply 
in 1940 and continued in succeeding years. The best 
timber — softwood and soft hardwood — was still being 
overcut. For the State as a whole, softwood saw-timber 
drain exceeded growth by 15 percent and soft hardwood 
drain exceeded growth by 3 percent. Softwood saw 
timber in the southern Coastal Plain was being cut 35 
percent faster than it was being grown, and in the 
Piedmont 27 percent faster. Soft hardwoods (gums, soft 
maple, and yellow-poplar) were faring only slightly 
better than the softwoods in these areas. 
Overcutting of the pole timber had increased; in 
1946, all pole timber in the Coastal Plain was seriously 
overcut. The heaviest drain on the softwoods came from 
pulpwood cutting. Heavy fuel-wood cutting, especially 
in the tobacco-growing counties of the northern Coastal 
Plain, made deep inroads into the harwood pole-timber 
growing stock. While pole timber was still increasing 
in the Piedmont, the surplus growth in 1946 was not 
enough to offset 1946 overcutting in the Coastal Plain. 
No EASING OF THE DRAIN PRESSURE IN SIGHT 
The amount and kind of timber cut (commodity 
drain) is closely related to economic conditions. On the 
other hand, with falling prices the drain on the marginal 
timber eases, but remains relatively high on the better 
trees and stands. Thus, past experience shows that drain 
on the most valuable timber remains heavy in either 
case. A sufficient rise in prices generally starts hundreds 
of shut-down small sawmills to producing, and sends 
commodity drain to high levels. 
In spite of possible periodic setbacks in economic 
activity, a growing population and a rising national 
income will very likely hold the average drain at or 
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