Figure 1. – Area of timberland and forest land by year.

Figure 2. – Area of forest land by top seven forest type 

groups and stand size class, 2005-2009.

West Virginia’s Forest Resources, 2009 Research Note NRS-100

This publication provides an overview of forest 

resource attributes for West Virginia 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 estimates, 

along with web-posted core tables, will be updated 

annually. For more information, please refer to page 

4 of this report.

1

Figure 3. – Area of timberland by stand size class and year.

Note: When available, sampling errors/bars provided in 

figures and tables represent 68 percent confidence 

intervals.

Table 1. - Annual estimates and uncertainty

8

9

10

11

12

13

1948 1958 1968 1978 1988 1998 2008

Area (1,000,000 acres)

Year

Timberland

All forest land

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Oak/hickory

Maple/beech/birch

Oak/pine

Pitch/Virginia pine

Elm/ash/cottonwood

White/red/jack pine

Spruce/fir 

Forest land (1,000,000 acres)

Forest type groups

Large

Medium

Small

Estimate 

2009

Sampling 

error

(%)

Area (1,000 acres) 12,081 0.7 0.9

Annual mortality of live trees 

(1,000 ft3

/year) 196,038 11.2 NA

Timberland Estimates

Area (1,000 acres) 11,824 0.7 0.9

Annual mortality of growing-stock 

trees (1,000 ft3

/year) 137,983 12.7 NA

Annual harvest removals of 

growing-stock trees (1,000 

ft3

/year) 222,037 26.7 NA

Annual other removals of growingstock trees (1,000 ft3

/year) 3,984 72.9 NA

Forest Land Estimates

Change 

since 

2008 (%)

Annual net growth of growingstock trees (1,000 ft3

/year) 665,921 6.5 NA

Net volume of growing-stock 

trees (1,000,000 ft3

) 25,176 1.3 0.6

Net volume in live trees 

(1,000,000 ft3

) 26,408 1.2 0.5

Dry biomass of live trees 1-inch 

diameter or larger (1,000 tons) 770,276 1.2 0.5

Number of live trees 1-inch 

diameter or larger (million trees) 6,146 1.6 1.3

Annual other removals of live 

trees (1,000 ft3

/year) 1,846 105.9 NA

Annual harvest removals of live 

trees (1,000 ft3

/year) 258,690 26.6 NA

Annual net growth of live trees 

(1,000 ft3

/year) 731,542 7.1 NA

Net volume in live trees 

(1,000,000 ft3

) 27,231 1.2 0.5

Dry biomass of live trees 1-inch 

diameter or larger (1,000 tons) 789,402 1.1 0.5

Number of live trees 1-inch 

diameter or larger (million trees) 6,276 1.6 1.3

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

1948 1958 1968 1978 1988 1998 2008

Area (1,000,000 acres)

Year

Large diameter Medium diameter Small diameter
Table 2. – Top 10 tree species by statewide volume estimates, 2005-2009

Figure 4. – Area of forest land by major owner group (2008) and size of private family forest landholding (2006).

2

Private forest land – 87 percent of all forest land 

Public forest land – 13 percent of all forest land

-

200 

400 

600 

800 

1,000 

1,200 

1,400 

1,600 

1,800 

2,000 

Family forest landholding (1,000 acres) 

Landholding size (acres)

(Of the 10.4 million acres of privately owned forest 

land, 7.2 million acres is held by family forest owners 

with the remainder held by a combination of 

corporations, partnerships, and other forms of 

ownership.)

Rank Species Sampling Sampling 

error error

(%) (%)

1 Yellow-poplar 3,930 4.1 14.4 15,901 4.7 18.0

2 Chestnut oak 2,445 4.5 9.0 7,823 5.2 8.8

3 Red maple 2,438 3.8 9.0 5,833 5.3 6.6

4 White oak 2,406 4.3 8.8 8,734 5.1 9.9

5 Northern red oak 2,140 5.0 7.9 9,115 5.9 10.3

6 Sugar maple 1,891 4.5 6.9 5,169 6.4 5.8

7 Black oak 1,205 5.6 4.4 4,810 6.8 5.4

8 American beech 1,078 6.3 4.0 3,610 8.5 4.1

9 Black cherry 988 7.7 3.6 3,138 10.0 3.5

10 Pignut hickory 805 5.9 3.0 2,364 7.8 2.7

Other softwoods 1,459 6.2 5.4 4,328 7.8 4.9

Other hardwoods 6,446 2.3 23.7 17,665 3.4 20.0

All Species 27,231 1.2 100.0 88,489 1.7 100.0

Proportion of 

total sawtimber 

volume (%)

Volume of live trees 

on forest land 

(1,000,000 ft3

)

Proportion of 

total live tree 

volume (%)

Volume of sawtimber 

trees on timberland 

(1,000,000 bdft)
Figure 5. – Ash species as a percentage of total live volume by county, 2008.

Figure 6. – Average cubic foot volume of ash per acre of forest land by county, 2008.

3

West Virginia's Ash Resource at Risk from the Emerald Ash Borer 

The emerald ash borer (EAB; Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire) is an exotic bark-boring beetle native to Asia that was discovered 

in Detroit, Michigan in 2002 (Kovacs 2010). It is especially dangerous because there is no known treatment for EAB 

infestations. Since 2002, EAB has spread and killed millions of ash trees in Michigan and Ohio. As of November, 2010, it has 

been detected at sites in several West Virginia counties ( Raleigh, Nicholas, Fayette, Roane, Calhoun, and Morgan). EAB 

represents a major threat to the State’s ash resource. All ash species, regardless of tree vigor, are at risk. Ash species are 

common and well distributed throughout the state, though stands dominated by ash are rare. On average, ash volume 

averages 2.6 percent of the total volume of trees 5 inches and larger d.b.h., and averages 59 cubic feet of wood per acre of 

forest land (Figs. 5 and 6). Currently, about 12 million board feet of ash saw logs are harvested annually in the State (7 

percent of total harvest). Not include here, but also at risk, are ash shade trees in urban areas.

When an emerald ash borer infestation is found, quarantine procedures are put in place to limit the spread of the pest through 

human behavior (moving firewood, transporting logs, purchasing infested plants, etc.). Currently West Virginia is under a 

quarantine that restricts the export of hardwood firewood of all species to other states and requires a permit to ship ash logs

to mills in other states. It is believed that the movement of firewood is a major cause of the spread of EAB. By restricting its

movement, it is hoped that EAB will be contained until biological controls are found.

Cubic feet 

per acre

0 to 25

26 to 50

51 to 75

75 to 100

100 +

State average = 59 cf/ac

Percent ash 

4 to <11

2 to <4

0 to <2

State average = 2.6 percent 
Bechtold, W.A.; Patterson, P.L., eds. 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. 2005. Forest Inventory and Analysis national core field guide, Vol. 1, field data collection procedures 

for phase 2 plots, Ver. 3.0. Available at http://www.fia.fs.fed.us/library/field-guides-methods-proc/ (verified Aug. 1, 2008). 

FIA Program Information

Additional West Virginia Inventory Information

Widmann, R.H.; Cook, G.W. 2011. West Virginia’s forest resources, 2009. Res. Note NRS-100. 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, sexual 

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

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.

Contact Information

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

Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Forest Experiment Station. 105 p.

DiGiovanni, D.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, R.H. 1964. The timber resources of West Virginia. Resour. Bull. NE-2. Upper Darby, PA: U.S.Department of 

Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Forest Experiment Station. 123 p.

Griffith, D.M.; Widmann, R.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, R.H.; Dye, C.R.; Cook, G.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.

Lead Analyst: Richard Widmann, (610) 557-4051, rwidmanne@fs.fed.us

Data processing/access: Carol Alerich, (610) 557-4068, calerich@fs.fed.us

Field data collection: Mike Effinger (304) 285-1593, meffinger@fs.fed.us

Estimates, tabular data, and maps from report may be generated at: www.fia.fs.fed.us/tools-data

Additional information

Kovacs, K.F.; Haight, R.G.; Liebhold, A.M.; McCullough, D.G.; Mercader, R.J.; Siegert, N.W. 2010. Cost of potential 

emerald ash borer damage in U.S. communities, 2009-2019. In: Proceedings of symposium on ash in North America. 

Gen. Tech. Rep. NRS-P-72. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research 

Station. 64 p.