This publication provides an overview of forest resources 

in West Virginia based on inventories conducted by the 

U.S. Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) 

program of the Northern Research Station. For annual 

inventory years 2002-2013, the sample length was equal to 

5 years. Beginning in 2014, the cycle length was changed 

to 7 years. For the 2014 inventory, estimates for current 

variables such as area, volume, and biomass are based on 

2,369 plot samples collected from 2009-2014. Change 

variables, such as net growth, removals, and mortality, are 

based on 2,035 samples collected in 2004-2009 and 

resampled in 2009-2014. Estimates from earlier annual 

and periodic inventories are shown for comparison. See 

Bechtold and Patterson (2005) and O’Connell et al. (2013) 

for definitions and technical details. 

United States Department of Agriculture

RESOURCE UPDATE FS-65

Forests of West Virginia, 2014 

Forest Service | September 2015

1

Overview

Currently, West Virginia is home to over 12 million acres 

of forest land (Table 1). Since the 1989 inventory, the 

estimate of forest land has been relatively stable (Fig. 1). 

However, the volume and biomass of trees has risen 

(Table 1). Average annual net growth, mortality, and 

removals have higher sampling errors, indicating higher 

uncertainty in trend estimates; however, the latest 

inventory shows a notable 33 percent decrease in average 

annual harvest removals on forest land since 2008 which 

highlights the impacts of the economic recession on 

timber harvesting (Table 1). During that same period, 

average annual mortality on forest land increased by 27 

percent.

Note that net volume is defined as gross volume in cubic 

feet less deductions for rot, roughness, and poor form 

from a 1-foot stump to a minimum 4.0-inch top diameter. 

Biomass is defined as the aboveground weight of wood 

and bark in live trees 1.0 inch diameter and larger from 

the ground to the tip of the tree, excluding all foliage.

2014 

Estimate

Sampling 

error 

(percent)

2008 

Estimate

Sampling 

error 

(percent)

Change 

since 2008 

(percent)

Forest Land

Area (thousand acres) 12,119 0.6 11,974 0.7 1.2

Number of live trees (million trees) 6,286 1.6 6,196 1.6 1.5

Aboveground biomass of live trees (thousand oven-dry tons) 826,179 1.1 785,496 1.1 5.2

Net volume of live trees (million ft3) 28,539 1.1 27,103 1.2 5.3

Annual net growth of live trees (thousand ft3/yr) 527,311 4.1 700,273 2.4 -24.7

Annual mortality of trees (thousand ft3/yr) 286,509 5 225,756 4.5 26.9

Annual harvest removals of live trees (thousand ft3/yr) 226,556 12.2 337,487 8.5 -32.9

Timberland

Area (thousand acres) 11,750 0.7 11,633 0.8 1

Number of live trees (million trees) 6,088 1.7 6,005 1.7 1.4

Aboveground biomass of live trees (thousand oven-dry tons) 796,426 1.2 759,259 1.2 4.9

Net volume of live trees (million ft3) 27,447 1.2 26,166 1.3 4.9

Net volume of growing stock trees (million ft3) 25,410 1.3 24,816 1.3 2.4

Annual net growth of growing stock trees (thousand ft3/yr) 470,450 3.6 607,132 2.3 -22.5

Annual mortality of growing stock trees (thousand ft3/yr) 209,219 5.6 168,871 4.8 23.9

Annual harvest removals of growing stock trees (thousand ft3/yr) 192,967 12.4 286,969 8.6 -32.8

Table 1.—West Virginia forest statistics, 2014 and 2008. Volumes are for trees 5.0-inch and larger in diameter. Number of trees 

and biomass are for trees 1.0-inch and larger in diameter. Sampling errors and error bars shown in tables and figures in this 

report represent 68 percent confidence intervals.
Figure 1.—Forest land and timberland by year, West Virginia. 

Forest Area

2 

RESOURCE UPDATE FS-65

West Virginia’s area of forest land has been relatively stable 

since the late 1980s (Fig. 1). Timberland accounts for 97 

percent of this forest land or 11.8 million acres. Less than 

0.25 percent of forest land is reserved from timber 

production and less than 0.1 percent is other forest land 

identified as not being able to meet minimum productivity 

standards. West Virginia’s total area is 15.5 million acres.

The northeastern unit of West Virginia has the highest area 

of forest land at 4.6 million acres, and all units have a 

proportion of land in forest over 75 percent (Fig. 2). The 

northeastern unit has more than triple the proportion of 

forest land in public ownership (24 percent) than the 

southern unit (8 percent) and more than six times than the 

northwestern unit (4 percent).

Oak/hickory is the dominant forest-type group, covering 74 

percent of the forest land (Fig. 3). In fact, the oak/hickory 

type group makes up over 50 percent of the forest land area 

in all but five counties in the State.

Pitch/Virginia pine is the most abundant softwood foresttype group. It accounts for nearly 2 percent of the forest land 

in the State.

The maple/beech/birch forest-type group, which is more 

widely distributed in the northeastern unit, has the highest 

proportion of area in public ownership of all forest-type 

groups. Families and individuals, corporations, and other 

private entities own the majority of forest land (52, 33, and 1 

percent, respectively). The U.S. Forest Service, state of 

West Virginia, and other public entities own the remainder 

(3, 9, and 2 percent, respectively).

West Virginia’s forests have been maturing as illustrated in 

the distribution of timberland by stand-size classes (Fig. 4). 

Since the 1975 inventory, the acreage of large-diameter 

stands has been steadily increasing. Until the 1989 

inventory, the acreage in small-diameter stands was 

declining and has since been stable. The acreage of mediumdiameter stands has been declining since the 1989 inventory.

Figure 2.—FIA unit boundary and area of forest/nonforest

with forest identified by major ownership group, West 

Virginia, 2014.

Figure 3.—Forest land by stand-size class (based on 

small, medium, and large trees) for top five forest-type 

groups by acres, West Virginia, 2014.

Figure 4.—Timberland by stand-size class and year, 

West Virginia.
Volume, Biomass, and Trends

3 

RESOURCE UPDATE FS-65

Increases in volume, biomass, and number of largediameter trees have accompanied the increase in area of 

large-diameter stands in West Virginia.

There are approximately 1.8 billion live trees (at least 5-

inch diameter) on forest land accounting for 

approximately 29 billion ft3 of volume and 786 million 

oven-dry tons of aboveground biomass. Volume 

increased 5.3 percent and biomass increased by 5.2 

percent since the 2008 inventory (Table 1). 

Contributing to this increase are the notable gains in 

volume for black cherry (Prunus serotina), chestnut oak 

(Quercus prinus), red maple (Acer rubrum) yellowpoplar (Liriodendron tulipifera), northern red oak (Q. 

rubra), and sugar maple (A. saccharum) at 17, 11, 9, 9, 

7, and 5 percent, respectively. By contrast, black birch 

(Betula lenta) decreased by 3 percent (Fig. 5).

Table 2.—Number, net volume, oven-dry biomass, net growth, mortality, and harvest removals of live trees on forest land, 

West Virginia, 2014 (selected prominent species)

Species

Treesa

(million trees)

Net volumea

(million ft3)

Aboveground 

biomassb

(thousand tons)

Net growtha

(thousand ft3

/yr)

Mortalitya

(thousand ft3

/yr)

Harvest 

removalsa

(thousand ft3

/yr)

Red maple 241 2,661 68,171 62,584 15,790 13,669

Sugar maple 164 1,995 60,700 51,543 16,155 18,147

Chestnut oak 150 2,679 86,009 45,585 14,162 11,592

Yellow-poplar 148 4,228 86,463 114,876 22,457 52,766

White oak 116 2,339 74,802 42,340 17,788 24,017

Hickory spp. 100 1,485 62,983 37,968 11,089 8,154

American beech 74 1,055 30,692 -4,175 17,548 8,406

Northern red oak 70 2,281 72,183 46,013 23,731 12,547

Black cherry 60 1,196 29,662 33,874 3,951 9,788

Black birch 49 504 15,534 5,457 7,025 4,886

a Trees at least 5-inch diameter. b Trees at least 1-inch diameter.

Rock outcrops in Coopers Rock State Forest. Photo by 

Randall Morin, U.S. Forest Service.

Figure 5.—Percent change in inventory volume by species, 

West Virginia, 2008 to 2014.

The growth-to-harvest removal ratio (G:R) for all species 

across the State is 2.3:1, but this ratio varies substantially 

by species. Red maple and the hickories (Carya spp.) 

have G:R ratios above 4:1. By contrast, American beech 

(Fagus grandifolia), black birch, and white oak (Q. alba) 

have G:R ratios below 2:1 (Table 2).
RESOURCE UPDATE FS-65

The published report is available online at http://treesearch.fs.fed.us

How to Cite This Publication

Morin, Randall S.; Widmann, Richard H. 2015. 

Forests of West Virginia, 2014. 

Resource Update FS-65. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. 

Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, 

Northern Research Station. 4 p.

Northern FIA: http://nrs.fs.fed.us/fia/

National FIA: http://fia.fs.fed.us

Contact Information

Randall S. Morin, Research Forester

USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station

11 Campus Blvd., Ste. 200

Newtown Square, PA 19073

Ph: 610-557-4054 / Fax: 610-557-4250 

rsmorin@fs.fed.us

USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer

4

References

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.

O’Connell, B.M.; LaPoint, E.B.; Turner, J.A. [et al.]. 2014. The Forest 

Inventory and Analysis database: database description and user 

guide version 6.0.1 for Phase 2. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest 

Service. 748 p. (http://www.fia.fs.fed.us/library/databasedocumentation/)

Flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) is a shade tolerant, 

native tree that grows in the forest understory from 

Maine to the Gulf of Mexico. It is valued for its 

spectacular flowering in the spring, the high quality of its 

fruit as food for wildlife, and its red and purple fall 

foliage. Dogwoods also play an important role in the 

calcium cycle in eastern forests. Since the 1970s, a 

fungal disease of unknown origin with no known cure 

has been eliminating dogwood from the landscape. This 

disease, known as dogwood anthracnose, is caused by the 

fungus Discula destructiva. It was first identified in New 

York and has since caused extensive mortality of 

dogwoods throughout the eastern hardwood forest. 

Previous to this disease, dogwoods were one of the most 

numerous trees in the understory of eastern hardwood 

forests.

In the last 6 years the numbers of dogwood trees, 1-inch 

and larger in diameter, have undergone large decreases in 

many states (Fig. 6). In West Virginia the average 

number of dogwood trees per acre of timberland has 

decreased from 43.9 in 1989 to 8.5 in 2014 (Fig.7). 

Although the recent decline indicates that few trees are 

resistant to the disease, there are still an estimated 102 

million dogwoods in West Virginia. A tree on Catoctin 

Mountain in Maryland that showed resistance to the 

disease was discovered, and a cultivar was cloned and is 

now sold by tree nurseries. Hopefully more trees resistant 

to dogwood anthracnose will appear within wild 

populations, otherwise forests will be significantly 

altered aesthetically and ecologically.

Widmann, R.H. 2014. Forests of West Virginia, 2013. Resour. Update FS22. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, 

Northern Research Station. 4 p.

Widmann, R.H.; Cook, G.W.; C.J. Barnett, C.J.; Butler, B.J.; Griffith, D.M. 

[et al.]. 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. [DVD included].

Figure 6.—Percentage change over the most recent 6-year 

period in the number of dogwood trees, by state, trees 1-

inch d.b.h and larger. 

Figure 7.—Average number of dogwood trees per acre of 

timberland, trees 1-inch d.b.h. and larger, by inventory year, 

West Virginia. 

Flowering Dogwoods are Rapidly Declining