South Dakota, 2020

Forests of

4% forested*

South Dakota has an estimated 1,908,467 acres of forest land. * Percent forest is forest area/total area. Percent forest with water removed from total area is 4%.

This resource update is a brief look at some of the basic South Dakota has 8,466 sample plots across the State, of

metrics that describe the status of and changes to forest which 575.0 are currently forested. Each year, about 10-20

resources in South Dakota. This information is based on field percent of these plots are visited and measured by field

data collected using the USDA Forest Service Forest crews. Data used in this update were accessed from the FIA

Inventory and Analysis (FIA) annualized sample design, and database on 06/02/2022.

it is updated yearly.

1.95

Area of forest land

(million acres) 1.91

Number of live trees 0.57

on forest land

(billion trees) 0.59

Volume of live trees 2.24

on forest land

(billion cubic feet) 2.04

2015 2020

State and

Local

4.96%

Federal

55.00%

Private

40.05%

Forest land ownership

Annual Net Change -25

Annual Removals 24

Annual Mortality 56

Annual Gross Growth 55

All live (million cubic feet)

13,625 acres of nonforest

revert back to forest annually*

8,032 acres of forest land 14,132 acres of forest land

convert annually* to nonforest are disturbed annually* by fire

26,433 acres of forest land 9,639 acres of forest land

are treated by cutting are disturbed annually* by weather events

(harvest, thinning, etc.) annually*

USDA Forest Service - Forest Inventory & Analysis

The estimates presented are based on data retrieved from the FIA database (06/02/2022) and may not reflect the most recent data available from the FIA

program. Note – this publication does not include estimates of uncertainty. The most current data and sampling error for the estimates above can be

found by visiting https://www.fia.fs.usda.gov/.

*Average annual estimates are based on data collected across 5-10 years and may not be indicative of the nominal year presented in the title by itself.
	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	

	 	 	 	 	

	 	 	 	

	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	

	 	

	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	

	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	

	 	 	 	 	 	 	

	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	

	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	

	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	

	 	 	

	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	

	 	

	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	

	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	

South	 	 Dakota, 2020

Forests of

How to cite this publication

USDA Forest Service. 2021. Forests of South Dakota, 2020. Resource Update FS-324. Madison, WI: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest

Service. 2p. https://doi.org/10.2737/FS-RU-324 .

Archived Versions

This report and archived past versions can be found on the USDA Forest Service publication database, Treesearch using keywords "Forest

Inventory" and "South Dakota" here: https://www.fs.usda.gov/treesearch/.

National Woodland Owner Survey

The National Woodland Owner Survey (NWOS) collects and reports on multiple attributes of forest land ownership. Details of the NWOS program can

be found here: https://www.fia.fs.usda.gov/nwos/.

The most recent NWOS Factsheet for South Dakota can be found here: https://www.nrs.fs.usda.gov/pubs/52404/.

Additional Resources

The application that produced this resource update was developed using data from the USDA Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis database

(FIADB): https://apps.fs.usda.gov/fia/datamart/datamart_excel.html .

Tables for South Dakota, 2020 can be found here: https://doi.org/10.2737/FS-RU-324-Tables

The FIA one-click application can be found here: https://doi.org/10.2737/FIA-One-Click-State-Report-v1.2

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.

https://doi.org/10.2737/SRS-GTR-80 .

NOTE: Some of the above links will not be active until the resource update has been approved for official publication.

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