cubic feet in 1975; a 23 percent increase since 

 1961. The sawtimber portion of growing stock 

 averaged 2,406 board feet per acre in 1975; a 25 

 percent increase since 1961. 



The growing-stock volume increase among the 

 major species 4ms not been uniform. The 

 relative positions of the 10 species with the 

 largest cubic-foot volume in 1961 and 1975 

 reflect these uneven changes: 



Rankings 



Species 



1961 



1975 



Red oak 



1 



3 



Chestnut oak 



2 



2 



Yellow-poplar 



3 



1 



Hickory 



4 



5 



White oak 



5 



4 



Black oak 



6 



6 



Beech 



7 



9 



Sugar maple 



8 



8 



Red maple 



9 



7 



Basswood 



10 





Black cherry 





10 



Yellow-poplar increased 39 percent in volume 

 and is now the most prevalent species in the 

 State. The oaks as a group exceed yellow-poplar 

 in volume, but red oak dropped from first to 

 third position. All oaks showed increases in 

 volume and white oak replaced hickory as the 

 fourth most abundant species. The volume of 

 black cherry increased 67 percent and it became 

 the tenth most abundant species. The volume of 

 red maple increased 49 percent and the species 

 moved from ninth to seventh position. The 



volume of both beech and basswood declined. 

 Beech dropped to ninth position and basswood is 

 no longer among the 10 most abundant species. 

 Black oak and sugar maple maintained their 

 same relative positions. Although no softwood is 

 on the list of top ten species, softwoods as a 

 group have increased 79 percent. All softwoods 

 accounted for 5 percent of the total volume in 

 1961 and 7.4 percent of total volume in 1975. 



Sawtimber volume has increased 26 percent 

 since 1961. For hardwoods, much of the increatse 

 was in the 12- and 14-inch diameter classes. 

 Logs in trees of this size usually do not meet the 

 minimum size specifications for standard 

 lumber log grades 1 or 2. Most of the hardwood 

 sawtimber increase was in grade 3 standard 

 lumber logs. Forty-six percent of the hardwood 

 sawtimber volume is now grade 3. We found lit- 

 tle change in the proportion of hardwood volume 

 in grades 1 and 2 combined. However, more of 

 this higher quality timber is now classed as 

 grade 1 than in 1961. Of the softwoods, only the 

 pines are segregated into quality classes by 

 standard lumber log grades. More than 88 per- 

 cent of the sawtimber volume of the pines is 

 grade 3 or poorer quality. Here, as in the 

 hardwoods, the high proportion of sawtimber 

 volume in the smaller diameter classes is the 

 reason for the low quality. 



The following tables describe the forest 

 resource of West Virginia. 



Table A.— Land area in West Virginia, by land classes, counties, and geo- 

 graphic units, 1975 



Forest land 



County 



Total 

 land area^ 



Nonforest 

 land area 



Non- 

 commercial b 



Commercial 



Sampling 

 error of 

 totaK' 











Percent 











Barbour 



218.2 



81.4 



0.9 



135.9 



10 



Berkeley 



202.2 



83.0 



1.2 



118.0 



12 



Braxton 



330.9 



77.9 



1.0 



252.0 



6 



Grant 



305.9 



67.6 



2.1 



236.2 



6 



Hampshire 



409.0 



87.7 



1.7 



319.6 



5 



Hardy 



374.4 



71.6 



5.1 



297.7 



5 



Harrison 



267.5 



120.2 



2.5 



144.8 



13 



Jefferson 



134.9 



96.3 



2.1 



36.5 



35 



Lewis 



250.9 



82.6 



.7 



167.6 



9 



Mineral 



211.2 



44.6 



.7 



165.9 



6 



CONTINUED 



3 



