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 2016 inventory, estimates for current 

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

2,430 plot samples (2,095 forested) collected from 2011-

2016. Change variables, such as net growth, removals, and 

mortality, are based on 1,985 samples (1,659 forested) 

collected in 2005-2010 and resampled in 2011-2016. 

Estimates from earlier annual and periodic inventories are 

shown for comparison. See Bechtold and Patterson (2005), 

Gormanson et al (2017), and O’Connell et al. (2014) for 

definitions and technical details.

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. The latest inventory shows a notable 14 

percent decrease in average annual harvest removals on 

forest land since 2011 (Table 1), which highlights the 

impacts of the economic recession on timber harvesting. 

During that same period, average annual mortality on 

forest land increased by 24 percent while average annual 

net growth decreased by 25 percent. Although the ratio of 

net growth to mortality is positive at the State level, this is 

not the case on public land, where annual mortality 

exceeds annual net growth. Additionally, mortality is even 

higher relative to net growth on national forest land.

United States Department of Agriculture

RESOURCE UPDATE FS-123

Forests of West Virginia, 2016 

Forest Service | June 2017

1

2016 

Estimate

Sampling 

error 

(percent)

2011 

Estimate

Sampling 

error 

(percent)

Change 

since 2011 

(percent)

Forest Land

Area (thousand acres) 12,046 0.6 12,155 0.7 -0.9

Number of live trees (million trees) 6,199 1.6 6,325 1.7 -2.0

Aboveground biomass of live trees (thousand oven-dry tons) 832,565 1.1 806,848 1.1 3.2

Net volume of live trees (million ft3) 28,768 1.1 27,819 1.2 3.4

Annual net growth of live trees (thousand ft3/yr) 475,105 4.1 636,600 4.9 -25.4

Annual mortality of trees (thousand ft3/yr) 306,614 4.6 246,957 6.8 24.2

Annual harvest removals of live trees (thousand ft3/yr) 214,461 11.6 250,169 15.9 -14.3

Timberland

Area (thousand acres) 11,691 0.7 11,789 0.7 -0.8

Number of live trees (million trees) 6,009 1.7 6,126 1.7 -1.9

Aboveground biomass of live trees (thousand oven-dry tons) 803,480 1.2 778,020 1.2 3.3

Net volume of live trees (million ft3) 27,693 1.2 26,779 1.3 3.4

Net volume of growing stock trees (million ft3) 25,661 1.3 25,073 1.3 2.3

Annual net growth of growing stock trees (thousand ft3/yr) 426,957 3.6 575,284 4.5 -25.8

Annual mortality of growing stock trees (thousand ft3/yr) 221,666 5.2 178,887 7.8 23.9

Annual harvest removals of growing stock trees (thousand ft3/yr) 179,884 11.8 214,849 16.1 -16.3

Table 1.—West Virginia forest statistics, 2016 and 2011. Volumes are for trees 5.0 inches 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.
Forest Area

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 11.7 million acres. Less 

than 3 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. Approximately 78 percent of the State’s total 

land area is made up of forest land.

The northeastern unit of West Virginia has the highest area 

of forest land at 4.5 million acres, and all units have more 

than 75 percent of land in forest (Fig. 2). The northeastern 

unit has triple the proportion of forest land in public 

ownership (24 percent) compared to the southern unit (8 

percent) and nearly five times more than the northwestern 

unit (5 percent). Fifty-nine percent of the forest land in the 

southern unit is in corporate ownership.

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

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

group makes up more than 50 percent of the forest land 

area in all but five counties in the State.

Pitch/Virginia pine is the most abundant softwood 

forest-type group. It accounts for nearly 2 percent of the 

forest land in the State (Fig. 3).

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 

major forest-type groups. Families and individuals, 

corporations, and other private entities own the majority 

of forest land (52, 34, and 1 percent, respectively). The 

U.S. Forest Service, State of West Virginia, and other 

public entities own the remainder (9, 3, and 2 percent, 

respectively).

West Virginia’s forests have been maturing as illustrated 

in the distribution of timberland by stand-size class (Fig. 

4). Since the 1975 inventory, the acreage of largediameter stands has been steadily increasing. The 

acreage of small- and medium-diameter stands has been 

declining since the 1989 inventory.

Figure 1.—Forest land and timberland by year, West Virginia. 

2 

RESOURCE UPDATE FS-123

Figure 2.—FIA unit boundary (black lines) and distribution of 

forest land by owner class, 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, 2016.

Figure 4.—Timberland by stand-size class and 

year, West Virginia.
Volume, Biomass, and Trends

Red maple (Acer rubrum) continues to be the most 

numerous tree in West Virginia, but yellow-poplar 

(Liriodendron tulipifera) is the most voluminous (Table 2). 

Red maple also has a relatively high net growth-to-harvest 

removals ratio of 3.4:1 (Fig. 5). A ratio of 1:1 would 

indicate that the amount of volume added annually is equal 

to that which was harvested. Most of the important species 

in the State have net growth-to-harvest removals ratios 

above 2:1. By contrast, white oak (Quercus alba), black 

birch (Betula lenta), and ash spp. (Fraxinus spp.) have net 

growth-to-harvest removals ratios below 2:1, and 

American beech (Fagus grandifolia) has a ratio of 0.02:1, 

indicating that very little net growth is occurring to offset 

harvesting. Additionally, mortality of American beech is 

elevated due to beech bark disease.

3 

RESOURCE UPDATE FS-123

aTrees at least 5-inch diameter. bTrees at least 1-inch diameter.

Figure 5.—Net growth-to-harvest removal ratio by species, 

West Virginia, 2016.

Forest ecosystems sequester more carbon annually than 

any other terrestrial land cover. This accumulation of 

carbon helps offset the emissions of carbon dioxide from 

sources like burning of fossil fuels. Estimates of forest 

carbon storage and annual uptake of carbon are updated 

annually as a part of the national forest carbon inventory 

(Woodall et al. 2015).

Species

Treesa Net volumea

(million ft3)

Aboveground biomassb

(thousand tons)

Net growtha

(thousand ft3/yr)

Mortalitya

(thousand ft3/yr)

Harvest removalsa

(thousand ft3/yr) (millions)

Red maple 237 2,685 75,598 60,666 17,759 17,666

Sugar maple 164 2,016 67,316 50,509 15,609 16,942

Chestnut oak 152 2,722 88,084 45,043 14,303 14,186

Yellow-poplar 147 4,247 88,430 100,746 23,489 33,153

White oak 117 2,380 76,789 35,164 21,560 19,126

Hickory spp. 128 1,890 65,891 36,968 12,350 8,141

American beech 76 1,070 34,542 123 17,642 5,473

Northern red oak 70 2,303 73,583 49,539 20,039 23,442

Black cherry 59 1,235 31,434 24,572 9,687 8,509

Black birch 51 509 17,345 7,377 5,410 4,221

Ash spp. 42 746 22,314 5,311 15,772 3,158

The 2016 data for West Virginia show that forests store 

nearly 1,100 million metric tons of carbon (Fig. 6) which 

amounts to over 223 metric tons per hectare of forest 

land (Fig. 7). The trends are similar in Figures 6 and 7, 

but both are provided so that total and per unit area 

carbon estimates can be cited. The largest pool is stored 

in soils followed by aboveground (tree) biomass.

Figure 6.—Trend in carbon stored (million metric tons) in 

West Virginia forests, 1990-2016.

Figure 7.—Trend in per hectare estimates of carbon stored 

(metric tons/hectare) in West Virginia forests, 1990-2016.

0.02

Table 2.—Number, net volume, oven-dry biomass, net growth, mortality, harvest removals, and growth-to-harvest removals 

ratio of live trees on forest land, West Virginia, 2016, for selected prominent species
RESOURCE UPDATE FS-123

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

How to Cite This Publication

Morin, Randall S.; Domke, Grant M.; Walters, Brian F. 2017. 

Forests of West Virginia, 2016. 

Resource Update FS-123. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. 

Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, 

Northern Research Station. 4 p.

https://doi.org/10.2737/FS-RU-123

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

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

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

USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer

4

Forest Carbon Assessment

Forest carbon storage has increased steadily between 

1990 and 2015 (Fig. 6, Table 3). However, the annual 

rate of carbon uptake has decreased from -15.39 

MMTCO2e per year to -12.39 MMTCO2e. Note that the 

negative numbers are used to indicate negative emissions 

(i.e., uptake or sequestration).

Forest carbon stocks should continue to increase as stands 

mature and accumulate carbon in aboveground and 

belowground components. Management that encourages 

carbon sequestration and accumulation will require 

careful planning and creative silviculture, particularly 

with other competing land management objectives.

Table 3.—Comparison of West Virginia’s forest carbon storage and annual uptake (net sequestration) pools 

in 1990 versus 2015. Units are: MMTC=million metric tons of carbon; MMTCO2e=million metric tons of 

carbon dioxide equivalents; and MTC/hectare=metric tons of carbon per hectare. Negative values are used 

with MMTCO2e to mean negative emissions, or rather, uptake of CO2.

Forest Carbon Pool

Carbon Storage 

(MMTC)

Net Sequestration 

(MMTCO2e)

Carbon Per Hectare 

(MTC/hectare)

1990 2015 1990 2015 1990 2015

Aboveground biomass 312.8 384.6 -11.93 -9.00 65.5 78.4

Belowground biomass 60.6 74.3 -2.30 -1.71 12.7 15.2

Dead wood 23.6 33.6 -1.09 -1.69 4.9 6.9

Litter 44.5 44.8 -0.08 -0.03 9.3 9.1

Soil Organic Carbon 556.9 557.1 0.00 0.04 116.5 113.6

Total 998.3 1094.5 -15.39 -12.39 208.9 223.2

View from Seneca Rocks. Photo by Randall Morin, 

U.S. Forest Service.

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.

Gormanson, D.D.; Pugh, S.A.; Barnett, C.J. [et al.]. 2017. Statistics and quality 

assurance for the Northern Research Station Forest Inventory and Analysis 

Program, 2016. Gen. Tech. Rep. NRS-166. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. 

Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station. 23 p. 

https://doi.org/10.2737/NRS-GTR-166.

Morin, R.S.; Cook, G.W.; Barnett, C.J. [et al.]. 2016. West Virginia’s Forests 

2013. Resour. Bull. NRS-105. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of 

Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station. In press.

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. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. 748 p. 

http://www.fia.fs.fed.us/library/database-documentation/.

Woodall, C.W.; Coulston, J.W.; Domke, G.M. [et al.]. 2015. The U.S. forest 

carbon accounting framework: stocks and stock change, 1990-2016. Gen. Tech. 

Rep. NRS-154. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest 

Service, Northern Research Station. 49 p.