and these were put into eight forest type groups. 

 The Western Unit, because of its high elevation 

 and cool average temperatures, has a majority of 

 the acreage of the three type groups most 

 commonly found in more northern latitudes — 

 spruce-fir, white and red pine, and maple-beech- 

 birch. The Lower Eastern shore has most of the 

 bottomland oak-gum-cypress acreage and nearly 

 half of the land in the loblolly and shortleaf pine 

 type group. The other three groups — oak-pine, 

 oak-hickory, and elm-ash-red maple — are found 

 throughout the State. The oak-hickory group 

 dominates, occupying 46 percent of the com- 

 mercial forest land. 



GROWING-STOCK VOLUME 

 REACHES 3.5 BILLION CUBIC FEET 



The volume of timber in Maryland has been in- 

 creasing since the first Forest Service survey in 

 1950. Growing-stock volume is now 3.5 billion 

 cubic feet and the sawtimber component is 8.2 

 billion board feet. Volume per acre figures have 

 increased along with volume. The average acre of 

 commercial forest land has 1,384 cubic feet or 

 3,237 board feet of net volume. There are large 

 differences among units, however. For growing- 

 stock volume, the Western Unit is lowest, with 

 only 897 cubic feet per acre, while the Lower 

 Eastern Shore Unit is highest, with almost twice 

 that amount— 1,655 cubic feet per acre. For saw- 

 timber volume, the Western Unit is again lowest, 

 with 1,486 board feet per acre, while the Central 

 Unit edged out the Lower Eastern Shore for high- 

 est honors with 3,869 board feet per acre. These 

 differences are a reflection of differences in 

 species composition, growing conditions, timber 

 management intensities, and past land use. 



Just as sawtimber stands dominate the area, 

 they account for 73 percent of the growing-stock 

 volume and 86 percent of the sawtimber volume. 

 Units with an above average proportion of saw- 

 timber stands also have a higher than average pro- 

 portion of their volume in these stands. 



The oak-hickory forest type group dominates 

 the timber of Maryland, accounting for 1.7 billion 

 cubic feet or almost one-half of the growing-stock 

 volume. Two-thirds of this volume is in the 

 Central Unit. The loblolly and shortleaf pine type 

 group accounts for nearly a quarter of the total, 

 some 830 million cubic feet. Over half of this 

 volume is in the Lower Eastern Shore Unit. The 



third major type group is elm-ash-red maple; its 

 388 miUion cubic feet, found primarily in the 

 Lower Eastern Shore and Central units, make up 

 11 percent of the growing-stock volume. The re- 

 maining five groups, oak-pine, maple-beech- 

 birch, oak-gum-cypress, white and red pine, and 

 spruce-fir (in order of decreasing volume) account 

 for the remaining 16 percent of the growing-stock 

 volume. The sawtimber volume is similarly 

 distributed. 



Maryland is predominately a hardwood State, 

 with 2.7 billion cubic feet or 77 percent of its 

 growing-stock volume in broad-leaved species. 

 Hardwoods are common throughout Maryland, 

 but over half — 53 percent — of the volume is in the 

 Central Unit. The oaks are the most common spe- 

 cies group, accounting for 46 percent of the hard- 

 wood volume. The softwood volume — 793 million 

 cubic feet — is concentrated in the Lower Eastern 

 Shore Unit where loblolly pine, the species with 

 the most volume in the State (see the box on this 

 page) dominates the woodlands. 



GROWTH EXCEEDS REMOVALS 



In general, the timber resource is in a favorable 

 situation when more timber is grown each year 

 than is cut. At first glance, this appears to be the 

 case in Maryland; our latest estimates (1975) show 

 annual removals to be only 77 percent of annual 

 net growth for growing stock and only 74 percent 

 for sawtimber. For softwoods the level of grow- 

 ing-stock removals, 23.6 million cubic feet, is only 



THE TOP TEN 



Here are the ten species that dominate the 

 timber resource of Maryland: 



Million cubic Percent of 







feet 



total 



1. 



Loblolly pine 



470 



14 



2. 



White oak 



368 



11 



3. 



Yellow-poplar 



351 



10 



4. 



Red maple 



279 



8 



5. 



Virginia Pine 



237 



7 



6. 



Sweetgum 



221 



6 



7. 



Northern red oak 



182 



• 5 



8. 



Chestnut oak 



171 



5 



9. 



Black oak 



155 



4 



10. 



Scarlet oak 



136 



4 





Total 



2,570 



74 



3 



