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

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

groups and stand size class, 2004-2008.

West Virginia’s Forest Resources, 2008 Research Note NRS-61

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 

Note year. : When available, sampling errors/bars provided in figures 

and tables represent 68 percent confidence intervals.

8

9

10

11

12

13

1948 1958 1968 1978 1988 1998 2008

Area (1,000,000 acres)

Year

Timberland

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

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

Area (1,000,000 acres)

Year

Large Medium Small

Estimate 

2008

Sampling 

error

(%)

Area (1,000 acres) 11,974 0.7

Annual mortality of live trees 

(1,000 ft3

/year) 225,715 4.5

Timberland Estimates

Area (1,000 acres) 11,721 0.7

Annual mortality of growingstock trees (1,000 ft3

/year) 168,603 4.5

Annual harvest removals of 

growing-stock trees (1,000 

ft3

/year) 286,179 8.6

Annual other removals of 

growing-stock trees (1,000 

ft3

/year) 35,537 26.2

Forest Land Estimates

Number of live trees 1-inch 

diameter or larger (million trees) 6,196 1.6

Dry biomass of live trees 1-inch 

diameter or larger (1,000 tons) 785,478 1.1

Net volume in live trees 

(1,000,000 ft3

) 27,102 1.2

Annual net growth of live trees 

(1,000 ft3

/year) 697,512 2.4

Annual harvest removals of live 

trees (1,000 ft3

/year) 336,536 8.5

Annual other removals of live 

trees (1,000 ft3

/year) 14,283 27.0

Number of live trees 1-inch 

diameter or larger (million trees) 6,065 1.7

Dry biomass of live trees 1-inch 

diameter or larger (1,000 tons) 766,234 1.2

Net volume in live trees 

(1,000,000 ft3

) 26,408 1.3

Net volume of growing-stock 

trees (1,000,000 ft3

) 25,037 1.3

Annual net growth of growingstock trees (1,000 ft3

/year) 609,306 2.4

Table 1. – Annual estimates and uncertainty
Table 2. – Top 10 tree species by statewide volume estimates, 2004-2008

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 3,896 4.1 14.4 15,729 4.8 17.9

2 Red maple 2,441 3.8 9.0 5,823 5.5 6.6

3 Chestnut oak 2,408 4.4 8.9 7,609 5.2 8.7

4 White oak 2,349 4.2 8.7 8,535 5.0 9.7

5 Northern red oak 2,140 5.0 7.9 9,160 6.0 10.4

6 Sugar maple 1,893 4.5 7.0 5,157 6.5 5.9

7 Black oak 1,248 5.7 4.6 5,030 6.9 5.7

8 American beech 1,062 6.2 3.9 3,460 8.4 3.9

9 Black cherry 1,023 8.0 3.8 3,267 10.7 3.7

10 American basswood 798 8.6 2.9 3,143 10.0 3.6

Other softwoods 1,414 6.2 5.2 4,171 7.9 4.7

Other hardwoods 6,430 2.1 23.7 16,842 3.1 19.2

All Species 27,102 1.2 100.0 87,926 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. – Area and number of family forests in West 

Virginia by size of forest landholdings (2006).

Figure 6. – Area and number of family forests in 

West Virginia by reason for owning forest land 

(2006). Numbers include landowners who ranked 

each objective as very important (1) or important 

(2) on a seven-point Likert scale.

3

West Virginia’s Family Forest Owners

Most of West Virginia’s forests are privately owned (Fig. 4) and of this private forest land, most is owned by 

families and individuals. There are an estimated 243,000 family forest owners in West Virginia who own a 

total of 7 million acres of forest land or 60 percent of the State’s total forested area. Along with an inventory of 

the biophysical characteristics of the forest, the U.S. Forest Service conducts the National Woodland Owner 

Survey (NWOS) to characterize the people who own these resources. The NWOS collects data on forest 

holding characteristics, ownership histories, ownership objectives, forest uses, forest management practices, 

preferred methods for receiving information, concerns, future intentions, and demographics. Below are some 

of the key findings for West Virginia. For additional information about West Virginia’s family forest owners, see 

Butler (2008) or visit www.fia.fs.fed.us/nwos.

● New Owners

20% have purchased their forestland 

within last 10 years 

● Absentee Owners

30% do not live on or near (within 1 mile)

their land 

● Farmers

15% have a farm associated with 

their forestland 

Demographics

●Age

5% are <45 years old

75% are between 45 and 64

20% are 65 or older

● Education

12% have a college degree

● Annual Household Income

67% under $50,000

24 % $50,000 to $99,999

9% $100,000 or more

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Percentage

Size of Forest Holdings (acres)

Area

Owners

0 20 40 60 80 100

Timber production

Part of farm

Land investment

Firewood production

Family legacy

Recreation (incl. hunting)

Aesthetics/biodiversity

Home/privacy

Percentage

Owners

Area

Ownership
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. 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.; Butler, B.J.; Cook, G.W. 2010. West Virginia’s forest resources, 2008. Res. Note NRS-61. 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

Additional Information

Butler, B.J. 2008. Family forest owners of the United States, 2006. Gen. Tech. Rep. NRS-27. Newtown Square, PA: 

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station 73 p.

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, 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, 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, rwidmann@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