Florida’s Timber Supply 
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Drain in Relation to Supply 
LL TOGETHER, Florida has more than 140 
million cords of live timber 5.0 inches and 
larger (table 5). Not all of this volume, 
however, is equally well suited to filling rather spe- 
cific timber needs of the forest industries. Almost a 
third of it has little or no commercial value, because 
more than half of the hardwood volume and a fourth 
of the cypress volume is in cull trees and in the top 
portion of saw-timber trees. This material may have 
a potential use for fibre or chemical products, but at 
present it is suitable mainly for fuel wood. Ninety- 
four percent of the live timber used for primary 
forest products in 1948 came from pole-timber trees, 
the sawlog portion of saw timber, and the upper 
stems of pine saw timber. 
Pines are most heavily cut in relation to the sup- 
ply. In 1948, the commodity drain on sound, live 
pine timber 5.0 inches and larger amounted to 4.5 
percent of the growing-stock volume measured in 
cubic feet, compared with 1.6 percent for cypress 
and cedar and 1.3 percent for hardwoods. 
The supply of large timber of all species is espe- 
cially low in relation to the demand. Fifty-five per- 
cent of the commodity drain is on trees 13.0 inches 
and larger, but this size of timber makes up only a 
fourth of the inventory volume. Commodity drain on 
timber 13.0 to 19.0 inches was 6.2 percent of the 
volume of this size of timber, and on timber 19.0 
inches and larger, 11.5 percent, compared to 3.1 
percent for all growing stock 5.0 inches and larger. 
Much more large timber would be cut if it were 
available. 
Much of Florida’s saw timber is small and widely 
scattered. The largest remaining block of old-growth 
timber is in the cypress swamp in Collier County, 
and this area is being rapidly cut over. Of the total 
20.6 billion board feet in Florida (table 6), two- 
thirds occurs in saw-timber stands. Only 13 percent 
of the total volume is in large saw-timber stands, 
which average around 5,500 board feet per acre. 
More than half of the saw timber is in small saw- 
timber stands averaging 4,000 board feet per acre 
and the remainder (a third) occurs as single trees or 
in small groups of trees scattered throughout the 
pole and sapling stands and poorly stocked areas 
(fig. 11). 
Sixty-two percent of the saw timber is pine, 15 
percent cypress, and the remainder, various hard- 
wood species including water oak, sweetbay, black- 
gum and sweetgum. Most of this remaining hard- 
TaBLe 5.—Volume of all live trees on commercial forest land by species group and kind of material, Florida, 1949 
Kind of material Pine Cypress and cedar Hardwoods All species 
Million Million Million Million 
Saw-timber trees: cords Percent Percent cords Percent cords Percent 
Sawlog: portion. ==. -2-- see 27.9 46 58) 33 10.2 16 44.4 31 
Upper‘stem=*2>- 4s a- e 6.6 11 -6 8 2.4 4 10.6 7 
Pole-timbertrees2s— Us saa eee 24.2 40 a) 42 15.2 24 47.3 33 
Cull trees: 
Sound lao 22s ee a. a Seen 1.2 uS) 7 22.7 36 252 18 
Rottens2: =. SSS Mee ST se eee 2 1 8 10 13.0 20 15.0 11 
otale=o2e2 2 oe ae 60.1 100 9 100 63.5 100 142.5 100 
1 Includes hardwood limbs. 
16 Forest Resource Report No. 6, U. S. Department of Agriculture 
