9

10

11

12

13

1945 1955 1965 1975 1985 1995 2005 2015

Area (million acres)

Year

Timberland All forest land

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

1945 1955 1965 1975 1985 1995 2005 2015

Area (million acres)

Year

Large diameter

Medium diameter

Small diameter

Stand-size Class

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 (million acres)

Forest- type Groups

Large

Medium

Small

Stand-size Class

Figure 2. – Forest land area by stand-size class* for 

most common forest type groups, 2012.

West Virginia’s Forest Resources, 2012 Research Note NRS-192

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 

Note: When available, sampling errors/bars provided in 

figures and tables represent 68 percent confidence 

intervals.

Table 1 - Annual estimates and uncertainty

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

* Small: dominated by trees less than 5.0 inches d.b.h.; Medium: 

5.0 to 8.9 inches d.b.h. for softwoods and 5.0 to 10.9 inches 

d.b.h. for hardwoods; Large:≥ 9.0 inches for softwoods and 11.0 

d.b.h. for hardwoods. 

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

year.

Estimate 

2012

Sampling 

error

(%)

Area (1,000 acres) 12,161 0.7 1.6

Annual mortality of live trees 

(1,000 ft3

/year) 258,697 5.9 14.4

Timberland Estimates

Area (1,000 acres) 11,846 0.8 1.2

Annual mortality of growing-stock 

trees (1,000 ft3

/year) 185,999 6.7 10.1

Annual harvest removals of 

growing-stock trees (1,000 

ft3

/year) 197,448 14.1 -31.2

Annual other removals of growingstock trees (1,000 ft3

/year) 56,023 26.0 57.4

Net volume of growing-stock trees 

(1,000,000 ft3

) 25,397 1.3 1.5

Annual net growth of growingstock trees (1,000 ft3

/year) 544,624 3.9 -10.8

Dry biomass of live trees 1-inch 

diameter or larger (1,000 tons) 789,535 1.2 3.1

Net volume in live trees 

(1,000,000 ft3

) 27,217 1.3 3.1

Annual other removals of live trees 

(1,000 ft3

/year) 12,204 50.0 -15.0

Number of live trees 1-inch 

diameter or larger (million trees) 6,164 1.8 1.8

Annual net growth of live trees 

(1,000 ft3

/year) 608,858 4.3 -12.9

Annual harvest removals of live 

trees (1,000 ft3

/year) 231,010 14.0 -31.5

Dry biomass of live trees 1-inch 

diameter or larger (1,000 tons) 814,461 1.1 3.7

Net volume in live trees 

(1,000,000 ft3

) 28,122 1.2 3.8

Change 

since 

2008 (%)

Forest Land Estimates

Number of live trees 1-inch 

diameter or larger (million trees) 6,328 1.7 2.1
Table 2. – Top 10 tree species by statewide volume estimates, 2012

Figure 4. – Area of forest land by major owner group, West Virginia, 2012.

2 

Private forest land – 87 percent of all forest land 

Public forest land – 13 percent of all forest land

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Public Private

Acres (1,000,000)

Ownership Group

Reserved and

Other Forest Land

Timberland

Sampling Sampling 

Rank Species error error

(%) (%)

1 Yellow-poplar 4,150 4.2 6.5 16,734 4.7 6.4

2 Red maple 2,611 3.7 7.0 6,418 5.1 10.2

3 Chestnut oak 2,550 4.6 5.9 8,253 5.3 8.5

4 White oak 2,382 4.6 1.4 8,825 5.4 3.4

5 Northern red oak 2,265 5.0 5.8 9,749 5.8 6.4

6 Sugar maple 1,968 4.5 4.0 5,355 6.2 3.8

7 Black oak 1,158 5.9 -7.3 4,510 7.1 -10.3

8 Black cherry 1,091 7.3 6.6 3,429 9.7 5.5

9 American beech 1,091 6.5 2.6 3,582 8.7 3.5

10 Pignut hickory 793 6.2 0.6 2,392 7.8 2.1

Other softwoods 1,522 5.9 7.7 4,487 7.6 7.6

Other hardwoods 6,542 2.3 1.6 17,910 3.4 1.5

All Species 28,122 1.2 3.8 91,643 1.7 4.3

Change since 

2008 (%)

Volume of live trees 

on forest land (million 

ft3

)

Change since 

2008 (%)

Volume of sawtimber 

trees on timberland 

(million bdft)
3 

Native Hard Pines in West Virginia

Figure 7. – Number of hard pine by diameter class and 

inventory year on timberland, West Virginia.

As a group, pitch pine, Virginia pine, and table mountain pine are referred to as hard pines. Their distribution in West Virginia is 

spotty as they are mostly found on poorer soils and drier sites. They are considered pioneer species that are eventually replaced 

by more shade tolerant hardwoods, except on the poorest soils (Burns1990). Because seedlings do not thrive under shaded 

conditions, most stands of hard pines in West Virginia were established after major disturbances such as intense wildfire and

heavy logging. Though they are not considered high value species, hard pines do fill some niche markets such as providing 

softwood fiber for pulpwood and posts for fencing. Also, seeds shed in winter are an important source of food for small birds. 

Hard pines make up 2 percent of the total volume of trees in West Virginia and average 37 cubic feet per acre statewide. The 

heaviest concentrations are along the Ohio/West Virginia border and in the eastern panhandle (Fig. 5). Since 1989 the volume of 

hard pines has decreased by 17 percent (Fig. 6), while the total volume of all species has increased by 29 percent. Though the 

volume of hard pines is unchanged since 2008, changes in the numbers of trees by diameter class indicate that the hard pines 

are a maturing resource. Since 2000, there have been decreases in the numbers of trees in all diameter class below 16 inches 

(Fig. 7). Besides declining numbers of small trees, hard pines have experienced higher mortality rates than other species. As a 

percentage of current volume, the mortality rate for hard pines in West Virginia is 1.7 percent per year versus 0.9 percent for all 

species.

Figure 5. – Average net volume (cubic feet) per acre of hard 

pines on timberland, West Virginia, 2012 .

Figure 6. – Net volume (cubic feet) of hard pines by inventory 

year on timberland, West Virginia.

The history of forestry in West Virginia shows that 

disturbances from logging and wildfires were 

much more common and intense during the early 

1900s than they are today. Many of the large 

hard pines growing in West Virginia today are 

likely relics of these past disturbances. In the 

absence of large disturbances the hard pine 

resource in West Virginia will likely continue to 

decrease. Although hard pines only represent a 

small part of the forest resource, they contribute to 

forest diversity. Diverse forests tend to be more 

resistant to attacks by insects and diseases and 

better able to recover from disturbances.

0

10

20

30

40

2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20+

Numbers of Trees (millions)

Diameter Class (inches at breast height)

1989

2000

2011

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

1989 2000 2008 2012

Volume (million cubic Feet)

Year
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. 2012. Forest Inventory and Analysis national core field guide, Vol. 1, field data collection 

procedures for phase 2 plots, Ver. 6.0. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. Available at 

http://www.fia.fs.fed.us/library/field-guides-methods-proc/ (verified Sept 10, 2013). 

FIA Program Information

Additional West Virginia Inventory Information

Widmann R.H. 2013. West Virginia’s forest resources, 2012. Res. Note NRS-192. 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.

Widmann, R.H.; Cook, G.W.; Barnet, C.J.; Butler, B.J.; Griffith, D.M.; Hatfield, M.A.; Kurtz, C.M.; Morin, R.S.; Moser, W.K.; 

Perry, C.H.; Piva, R.J; Riemann, R.; Woodall, C.W. 2012. West Virginia’s forests 2008. Resour. Bull. NRS-61. Newtown 

Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station. 64 p.

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

Data processing/access: Charles Barnett, (610) 557-4031, cjbarnett@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

Literature Cited

Burns, R.M.; Honkala, B.H., tech. coords. 1990. Silvics of North America: 1. Conifers; 2. Hardwoods. Ag. Hndbk. 654. 

Washington, DC: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Forest Service. vol.1, 875 p.; vol.2, 877 p.