F — 433920 
Ficure 23.—Much of the nearly two million acres of Florida’s scrub oak land could be made to produce pine again if a way 
could be found to eliminate the scrub oak cheaply. 
Timber Yields Could Be Greatly Increased 
In spite of the fact that so much of Florida’s ¢om- 
mercial forest area is poor quality, the State has tre- 
mendous timber-growing possibilities. It has 7 mil- 
lion acres of fair- to good-quality pine land which, 
if fully stocked, is capable of growing 1,600 million 
board feet a year. Current pine growth is only 837 
million. Looking at it another way, this area alone 
is capable of growing enough additional pine timber 
to double the amount used for both lumber and 
pulpwood production in 1948. 
This potential growth leaves out entirely the pos- 
sible growth on 7 million acres of poor longleaf and 
slash pine sites, the growth on nearly 800 thousand 
acres of sand and pond pine land, and on 2 million 
acres of poor upland hardwood and scrub oak Jand. 
If fully stocked, this area could grow as much as 900 
million board feet of pine sawlogs, or 4.5 million 
cords of pulpwood a year. Of course, per-acre yields 
on much of this land probably would not justify the 
The Timber Supply Situation in Florida 
intensive management that would be required to keep 
this land fully stocked. Yet, even if this land averaged 
only 50 percent stocked, it could be expected to con- 
tribute a fourth of a billion feet of sawlogs, plus a 
million cords of pulpwood to Florida’s annual timber 
needs. 
In addition to this pine-producing land, the State 
has 3.5 million acres of fair to good land supporting 
hardwood and cypress timber which is estimated to 
be capable of growing annually 750 million board 
feet. This is 2% times current growth and 3% times 
current use. 
In short, Florida could grow two to three times as 
much timber as it is now growing. Producing near 
capacity, the State’s forest land could grow enough 
timber to support 170 additional medium-size saw- 
mills (annual production of 5 million board feet) or 
20 additional medium-size pulp mills, plants with 
capacity of 100,000 tons of pulp a year. Further, the 
hardwood-using industry could be expanded 4 or 5 
times its present size. 
29 
