Table 1. – Annual estimates, uncertainty, and change

Figure 1. – Area of timberland and forest land by 

year.

Figure 2. – Area of timberland for top six forest 

types by stand size class.

West Virginia’s Forest Resources, 2006 Research Note NRS

This publication provides an overview of forest resource attributes for this state based on an annual inventory 

conducted by the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program at the Northern Research Station of the U.S. 

Forest Service. These annual estimates, along with web-posted core tables, will be updated annually. For mo

information regarding past inventory reports for this state, inventory program information, and 

sampling/estimation procedures, please refer to the citations at the end of this report.

1

Estimate Sampling 

Error (%)

Change 

Since 

2005 (%)

Forest Land Estimates

Area (1,000 acres) 12,001 1.0 0.0

Number of live trees 1 inch 

diameter or larger (million 

trees) 6,156 2.1 0.9

Dry biomass of live trees 1 

inch diameter or larger 

(1,000 tons) 842,338 1.6 1.0

Net volume in live trees 

(1,000,000 ft3

) 24,655 1.8 2.2

Net volume of growing stock

trees (1,000,000 ft3

) 23,663 1.8 2.5

Annual net growth of live 

trees (1,000 ft3

/year) 518,924 6.0 NA

Annual mortality of live trees 

(1,000 ft3

/year) 216,156 10.0 NA

Annual removals of live 

trees (1,000 ft3

/year) 315,846 12.0 NA

Timberland Estimates

Area (1,000 acres) 11,731 1.1 -0.7

Number of live trees 1 inch 

diameter or larger (million 

trees) 5,998 2.2 -0.2

Biomass of live trees 1 inch 

diameter or larger (1,000 

tons) 820,145 1.7 0.0

Net volume in live trees 

(1,000,000 ft3

) 23,981 1.9 1.4

Net volume of growing stock

trees (1,000,000 ft3

) 23,016 2.0 1.7

Annual net growth of

growing stock trees (1,000 

ft3

/year) 394,835 7.0 NA

Annual mortality of growing 

stock trees (1,000 ft3

/year) 167,780 12.0 NA

Annual removals of growing 

stock trees (1,000 ft3

/year) 276,779 12.0 NA

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 20

Year

Area (1,000,000 acres)

Forest Land

Timberland

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

Small Medium Large

Stand size class

Timberland (1,000 acres)

White oak/red oak/hickory

Sugar maple/beech/yellow birch 

Chestnut oak/black oak/scarlet oak

Yellow-poplar/white oak/northern red oak

Hard maple/basswood
Figure 4. – Area of timberland by stand 

size class and year.

Table 2. – Top 10 species by statewide volume estimates

Figure 3. – Area of forest land (1,000 

acres) by ownership group.

2

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

Year

Area (1,000,000 acres)

Large diameter

Medium diameter

Small diameter

National 

Forest 

1,052

Other 

public 525

Private 

10,424

Rank Species Sampling Sampling 

Error Error

(%) (%)

1 Yellow-poplar 3,707.8 5.9 5.6 15,364.9 6.8 4.7

2 Red maple 2,171.4 5.4 6.2 5,636.8 7.3 14.4

3 White oak 2,099.7 5.8 -7.4 7,210.1 6.7 -6.5

4 Chestnut oak 2,044.2 6 -3.5 6,089.3 7.1 -0.4

5 Northern red oak 1,772.9 6.5 9.3 7,292.7 7.3 12.0

6 Sugar maple 1,734.8 6.4 1.4 4,592.4 9.2 -2.2

7 Black oak 1,015.3 7.7 -9.6 3,923.7 8.8 -9.2

8 American beech 896.2 8.8 2.1 2,807.0 10.9 3.9

9 Black cherry 841.6 10.9 23.5 3,041.7 13.5 32.9

10 American basswood 750.4 12.5 9.4 3,089.9 14.7 12.9

Other softwood species 1,211.2 9.1 1466.9 3,906.0 11.6 2,078

Other hardwood species 5,735.7 3.1 83.4 15,481.5 4.2 88.7

All species 23,981.2 1.9 1.4 78,436.0 2.5 2.7

Chan

since 2

(%)

Change 

since 2005 

(%)

Volume of live trees 

on timberland 

(1,000,000 ft3

)

Volume of sawtimber 

trees on timberland 

(1,000,000 bdft)
West Virginia Issue Update – Are Forests Being Managed Sustainability?

3

Figure 6. – Growing-stock 

volume by species on 

timberland, West Virginia, 

1989, 2000, and 2006.

West Virginia’s forests produce many benefits including wood for timber products, recreational opportunities, clean 

water, and sites for new homes. As demands for these benefits increase, there is growing concern about whether fore

resources are being managed sustainably. FIA data can address sustainability in several ways. 

One way is to look at the area of forest land. The 2006 estimate of the amount of forest land is nearly the same as in 

2000 with no statistical difference between the estimates (Fig. 1). Although the acreage of forest land in West Virginia 

may have peaked in 1989, recent data shows very little change since 2000.

A second way to judge sustainability is to look at the components of inventory volume change—growth, removals, and 

mortality. The 2006 inventory revealed that since 2000, on an annual basis, the net growth of growing-stock trees in 

West Virginia averaged 395 million cubic feet versus 277 million cubic feet of removals (Fig. 5). The net change of 118 

million cubic feet was about two-thirds of the annual increase for the 1989-2000 inventory period. 

-168

118

563

395

-277

-400

-200

0

200

400

600

Gross

Growth

Mortality Net Growth Removals Net Change

Million Cubic Feet

Figure 5. – Average 

annual components of 

change in growingstock volume 2004-2006.

These two measures of sustainability indicate that in West Virginia, the forest land base is stable and more wood

is being grown than is being lost to mortality, harvesting, and land-use change. Across its range, as well as in 

West Virginia, the sustainability of the oak resource is an ongoing concern. Annual forest inventories will continue

to monitor this shift in species composition away from oak species. 

Although the total volume of trees continued to increase, some species did better than others, indicating a shift in the 

species composition of the forest resource. Of the top 10 species, yellow-poplar, red maple, and sugar maple increased

by 10, 5, and 11 percent respectively, while white oak, northern red oak, and American beech declined by 3, 5, and 6 

percent respectively (Fig. 6). 

0 1 2 3 4

Black cherry

American beech

Hickory

Sugar maple

Black/scarlet oak

Northern red oak

Chestnut oak

White oak

Red maple

Yellow-poplar

Billion cubic feet

1989

2000

2006
Bechtold, W.A.; Patterson, P.L. 2005. The enhanced Forest Inventory and Analysis Program: national 

sampling design and estimation procedures. Gen. Tech. Rep. SRS-80. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of 

Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station. 85 p.

Smith, W.B. 2002. Forest inventory and analysis: a national inventory and monitoring program. 

Environmental Pollution. 116: 233-242.

USDA Forest Service. 2004. Forest inventory and analysis national core field guide, Vol. 1, field data 

collection procedures for phase 2 plots, ver. 3.0 [Online]. Available at www.fia.fs.fed.us/library/field-guidesmethods-proc/ (Accessed July 15 2008). 

FIA Program Information

Additional West Virginia Inventory Information

Widmann, Richard H.; Cook, Gregory W. 2008. West Virginia’s forest resources, 2006. Res. Note. NRS-23. 

Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station. 4 p.

Citation for this Publication

4

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, 

color, national origin, age, disability, and where applicable, sex, marital status, familial status, parental status, religion, sex

orientation, genetic information, political beliefs, reprisal, or because all or part of an individual’s income is derived from an

public assistance program (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternate 

means for communication of program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA’s TARGET 

Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TDD). To file a complaint of discrimination, write to USDA, Director, Office of Civil 

Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, DC 20250-9410, or call (800)795-3272 (voice) or (202)720-6382 

(TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

Bones, James T. 1978. The forest resources of West Virginia. Resour. Bull. NE-56. Broomall, PA: U.S. 

Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Research Station. 105 p.

DiGiovanni, Dawn M. 1990. Forest statistics for West Virginia—1975 and 1989. Resour. Bull. NE-114. 

Radnor, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Research Station. 172 p.

Ferguson, Roland H. 1964. The timber resources of West Virginia. Resour. Bull. NE-2. Upper Darby, PA: 

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Research Station. 123 p.

Griffith, Douglas M.; Widmann, Richard H. 2003. Forest statistics for West Virginia: 1989 and 2000. 

Resour. Bull. NE-157. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, 

Northeastern Research Station. 119 p.

Widmann, Richard H.; Dye, Charles R.; Cook, Gregory W. 2007. Forests of the mountain state. Resour. 

Bull. NRS-17. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research 

Station. 28 p.