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FOREST RESOURCES 

OF THE 

SOUTHWESTERN. OZARK REGION 

IN 

MISSOURI 

.. 

! 

>.ti..L u..m...b • .-U-L JJ. ~h..LDHorold L. MitchelL Dir~ctor 

FOREST SURVEY RELEASE N! 2 MARCH 1948 
FORES~ RESOURCES ',o I ' ' 

SOUTHWESTERN OZARK REGION 't I • 

MISSOURI 

BY 

THE FOREST SURVEY ORGANIZATION 

at the· 

Central States Forest Experiment ·station 

R; K. Winters; ;Qhie-f, Division of Forest Economics 

E; v~ R6berts, In Charge Forest Survey 

The field work on which these statistics are based was done 

by the following men under the supervision of M." E. Becker: 

. ' .. I ' I ' 

A. E. Block 

J. L.·. Burkle . , E.· H. ' Hansen 

T,· J. Schmitt 

R. K.· Train 

E. p,· VanArsdel 

· a~ . ··K • . H~~f'h ~so n ~ : L. .Q.uigley, and J. E. Wiggins did the photo · interpreting. work under the direction of K.· E. Moessner. The 

o,ffice . compila~ion:s were made by Margaret P~irsol, Betty Q;uill- igan, Mary Lou Sterner, and Florence Karinen under the super- yision a~ Lake OOI!?.pton. G. L. Schnur prepared the volume 

tables and ·determined the statistical · accuracy of tabular 

figures. Virginia Tomlinson, Alberta ) fiatt, and Bonnie Jo 

Williams did the stenographic work arid ·c.· E. Hamm and K. W. 

Ohrisemer the drafting. 

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FOREWORD 

The Forest Survey is a Nation-wide activity of- the. -f ,orest .Service. The fivefold purpose of the Forest .Survey is (l) to make a 

field inventory of the present supply of standing timber; ( 2.) to 

ascertain the rate at which this supply is being increased through 

growth; (3) to determine the rate at which it is being diminished 

through industrial and domestic uses, windfall., fire, disease, and 

other causes; (4) to determine the present consumption and the 

probable future trend in requirements for forest products; arid ( 5.) 

to interpret and _correlate these findings. with existing and anticipated economic conditions, as an aid. in the formulation of both privat~ and public polioi~s for use of land suitable for forest 

production • 

. The Forest Survey is conducted in the various forest regions 

by the forest experiment stat.ions of the Forest Service. I n Missouri, the project is ·d:j..rected by the Central States .Fore st Experiment Station with headquarters in Columbus, Ohio. For Survey ·purposes, the State has ·been divided into five principal regions 

based on character. o·f forest, topography: and _ other factors that 

influence tree growth. 

This Survey Release presents the more significant statistics 

on forest area and timber volume in 12 counties in the Southwestern 

Ozark region of Missouri. A similar ~eport has been published for 

the Eastern. Ozark region and releases for the other subdivisions 

of the State will be issued as soon as statistical . tabulations 

have been completed~ ·Later, an analytical report for the entire 

State will be prepared, which vlill interpret forest area, timber 

volume, growth, and drain statistics in the light of existing and 

anticipated economic conditions. This interpretation will focus 

attention on the principal forest problems and will suggest possible solutions. 

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~CALl-51A7VT! 41 /L£.5 

V 10 ZO JO 0 

LOCATION OF SOUTHWESTERN OZARK REGION 
SIGNIFICANT FACTS CONCERNING THE FOREST RESOURCES 

OF THE SOUTHWESTERN OZARK REGION 

The Southwestern Ozark region (see map on opposite page) straddles the backbone of the Ozark range in southwestern Miss~ 

ouri. Short, steep hills prevail in most of the area, gradually merging into the prairies on the western border·.. The rougher portions of the region are heavily forested. Two counties, Taney and Ozark, have more than 70 percent of their land area in forests. 

Newton County, the most lightly forested county, has 33 percent forest land. Of the 5.5 million acres in the 12 counties in the 

region, 3.1 million acres or 57 percent are forested. 

Ninety percent of the commercial forest area is privately owned. The Mark Twain .National .Forest makes up most of the pub- licly owned forest land. 

Stands with sufficient volume to be classified as saw timber 

(see Explanation of Terms Used on page 17) occupy only 9 percent of the forest · area. Pole-timber stands occur on 41 percent ~ and 

seedling and sapling stands on 36 percent of the forest area. Poorly stocked areas, chiefly pastured w-oodland, malce up 14 per·cent. 

The unusually small proportion of saw-timber stands in the region is attributed to (1) repeated cuttings for ties, ·sawlogs, and farm 

timbers, (2) the prevalence of poor timber sites, (3) woodland 

grazing, and (4) frequent fires. 

The total volume of saw timber is two billion board feet. 

Black oak is the most abundant species, accounting for nearly onethird of the total volume. White oak and the post oak group each 

make up 18 percent. Only one.- third of the board-foot volume is in 

saw-timber stands; the remaining two-thirds is in scattered trees 

of sawlog size in stands classified as pole timber, seedling and 

sapling, and poorly stocked. More than one-half of the volume is 

in trees in the 12~14-inch di~eter class . 

. The cubic volume of pole-size trees and the sawlog portion of saw-timber trees is 705 million cubic feet. More than onehalf of this volume . is in trees less than 11.0 inches in diameter. 

The average saw-timber volume per forest acre is 635 board 

feet. The average cubic-foot volume of pole-size trees and the 

sawlog portion of saw-ti:w.b er trees is 227 cubic feet. 

The total cubic-foot volume of all material including tops and limbs ·of hardwoods, cull trees, and trees of noncommercial 

species is 1.5 billion cubic feet. The sound wood in cull trees 

and in trees of noncommercial species accounts for more than onethird of the total volume, indicating the large proportion of the 

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growing space occupied by trees of little or no .commercial value. 

The removal of these trees from the stands to provide opportunity for growth of trees of better quality is a . major forestry prob- lem in the region. 

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Table 1.--Forest and nonfqrest area by county~ 1947 

Total 

County · land area 1/ Forest ·area · ·Nonforest area · ... .. .. . . . .. Thousand Thousand Percent Thousand Percent 

acres acres acres. 

Barry 512 211 41 . 301 59 Christian 363 172 47 191 .53 Douglas 518 311 60 207 40 Howell 589 364 62 225 38 

McDonald 346 219 63 127 37 Newton 403 131 3J 272 67 Ozark 484 J54 73 l30 •27 

;stone 325 183 56 142 44 

'r~ney 419 }20 76 99 24 Texas 757 489 65 268 35 ,;Webster 377 159 42 218 58 Wright 438 217 49- 221 51 

Al.l. counti.es 5 ,. 53i . 3 ., 1.30 .. 57 . . . 2' 401 . 43 . 

l} Source: Area Of the United States 1940, u. s. Bureau of Census 

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Table 2.--Commercial forest area by ownership class, 1947 

· · ·Ownership · class · · · commercial ·forest area y 

Thousand Percent 

acres 

Federal: 

National forest 276 8.9 

Other . 16 .j 

Total 92 9.4 

State 5 . 2 

Private 2·, 814 90.4 

All ownerships .. . . 3 'lll . . .lOO ~ 0 

Does not include 19,000 acres of forest land classified as noncommercial. 

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Forest 

type 

.Short leaf 

pine Cedar-hdwd. 

Oak-pine 

Oak-hickory 

White oak 

Mixed hdwd. 

Table ).--Commercial forest area by forest typ~ 

and stand-slze class, 1947 

Saw- Pole-: Seedling :Poorly Total :timber timber: & ·sapling:stocked 

area area . area . . area I . 

M acres Percent M acres M acres M acres M acres 

102 3.3 13 52 37 0 

233 7.5 0 46 98 89 

135 4.3 30 75 30 0 

1/ 2,356 75.8 158 960 925 313 113 3.6 34 58 15 6 

60 1.9 8 23 15 14 Bottomland hdwd. 112 3.6 30 47 15· 20 

All types 3,111 . ?-73 . . : l.1 ?-61 l.,l35 . .. . 442 : . 

Percent 100.0 8.8 40.5 36.5 14.2 

_1/ Includes a small area of scrub hardwood type amounting to less than one percent of the commercial forest area. 

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Taple 4. --Saw-.timber volume on commercial forest area by 

spE:lcies and stand-s.ize class;, 1947 

Saw- Pole- :seedling :Poorly :timber :timber :& sa:pling:Btocked Species Total area . area area . area . MJllioln .Percent !1illiqn M~J.)_ioil I I:'Iillion Million 

bd. ft. bd. ft. l:ld~ ft. bd. ft. bd. ft. 

Short leaf pine 171 8.6} 147 25 1 2 Red cedar 4 .2 

White oak 362 18.3 92 l24 70 76 

Post oak group 357 18.0 54 146 124 33 Black oak 627 31.7 2186 173 134 34 Scarlet oak 64 3.3 25 3·2 5 2 

Northern red oak 70 3.6} 20 54 7 4 Other red oaks 15 .. 8 Hickory 99 5.0l 14 48 28 9 Black gum 19 1.0 

Elm 44 2.2 

Sycamore 63 3. 2 r- 76 80 35 16 Ash 24 1.21 Black walnut 34 1.7 

Other hardwoods 23 1. 2..J 

- All species 1' 97'6 1 100.0 714 682 404 176 

I I percent I 100.0 36.2 34.5 20.4 8.9 

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II 
.Table 5.--Saw-timber volume on commercial, forest area by 

species and tree-diameter class, .1947 

Tree-diameter class 

Species . Total .. 10 ,y: 12-14 16-18 20 inches inches: inches . inches and larger 

Hill ion Million Million Million M.illion bd. ft. bd. ft. bd. ft. bd .. ft. bd. ft • 

• pine 1/ 175 53 72 30 20 Shortleaf 

White oak 362 -212 124 26 Post oak group 357 207 103 47 Black oak 627 292 195 140 Scarlet oak 64 47 15 2 

Other red oaks 85 49 20 16 Hickory 99 81 18 0 Other hardwoods 207 98 66 43 

All species 1,976 53 1,058 · . 571 294 

Percent 100.0 2. 7 7 53.5 28_. 9 14.9 

1/ Includes the volume of redcedar. 

2/ Ten-inch diameter class shown separately because , in this diameter class, saw-timber volume includes softwood trees, but not hard- woods. 

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I 
. Table 6.--Cubic-foot volume on commercial forest area by 

species and stand-size , class;, 1947 

Saw- Pole- Seedling :Poorly 

Species Total timber :timber & sapling: stocked 

area area area area 

Million Percent Million Million Million Million 

cu. ft. cu. ft. . cu. ft. cu. ft. cu • ft .• 

Shortleaf pine 69.7 9·9} }6.9 34;.3 1.6 2.0 Red cedar 5~1 White 16:l 56.8 16.1 oak 117~1 28.5 15.7 Post oak group 149.0 21.1 14.1 82.0 40.0 12.9 Black oak 194.7 27.6 56.3 \ 95.7 36.3 6.4 Scarlet oak 19.7 2.8 5.8 11.6 1.9 .4 

Other 

Northern red oak 20.6 2.9l 3.8 19.6 1.4 1.5 red oaks 

66:Z 8: g. Hickory 10.1 35.4 10.6 4.3 Black gum 3.8 . 61 

Elm 19.6 2.8 ' Sycamore 1,4.1 2.0 

Ash . - 18.5 29.6 9.7 5.2 6.4 • 9 ( Black walnut 9.2 1.3 . Other hardwoods 9.9 lo4J 

All species 705.0 174 .. 0 365.0 117.2 48.8 

Percent 100.0 24.7 51.8 16.6 6.9 

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Table ?.--Cubic-foot volume on commercial forest area 

by stand-siz.e class and tree-diameter class. 1947 

Tree-diameter class · Stand-size Total 6-8 10 11 12-14 16-18 :20 inches 

class inches: inches inches inchE?s:and larger : 

Mill :Lon M:Lllion 1'1illion Million Million Mil.lion 

cu. ft. cu. ft. cu. ft. cu. ft. cu. ft. cu. ft. 

Saw timb·er 174 .. 0 25.-4 31.0 55.6 39.3 22.7 

Pole timber 3'65. 0 158.6 90.7 77.3 24.5 13.9 

Seedling & 

sapling 117.2 .26. 5 20 ··4 39.2 20.9 10.2 

Poorly stocked 48.8 10.3 8.7 13.4 12.3 4~l-: 

Ail classes 705.6 220.8 150 ~ 8 . 185.5 .. 97.0 50.9 

Percent . 100 ~ 0 . .. 31~3 . . . . 21·.4 . . . 26.3 13.8 7.2 

Ten-inch diameter class shown separately because saw-timber 

volume includes softwood trees in this diameter class, but not 

hardwoods. 

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Table 8.--Average volume per acre by stand-size class, 1947 

Stand-size class 

Saw timber 

Pole t.imber 

Seedling & sapling 

Poorly stocked 

All classes 

Average volume per acre 

Board feet 

2,615 

541 

356 

398 

635 

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Cubic feet 

637 

289 

103 

110 

227 
Table 9. --.Total cubic"":'foot volume of sound wood on commercial. forest area by. species. and class of material., 1947 

Saw-timber trees :Pole-

: · :Sawlog :Tops & :timber . .Oull ·Speci$s · ·Total · · ; Total · :portion: limbs JJ; trees .. . trees y . 

Million Million Million Million Million Million 

cu·.· ft. cu. ft .• cu. ft .• cu.·. ft. c.u. ft. u~ ft. 

Short leaf 21 

pine 75.7 37.5 31.0 6.5 37.3 0.9 White oak 204.-9 101.-9 5·8 ~ 6 43.·3 58~5 44.5 Post oak group 359.1· 123.2 69.5 53.7 ?9.5 156.4 ,Black oak 352.6 186.2 105.0 81.2 89•7 76.·7 

Scarlet oak 37.5 19.1 10.8 8.3 s .·9 9. ·5 Other red oaks 54.4 24.2 13.8 10.4 . 12.5 17.7 Hickory 92 . 2 29.1 16.4 12.7 44.0 19.1 

Other hardwoods 130 .. 0 61.-5 34.? 26.8 2.8.3 40.2 

Noncomrilercial 

species, 182-.5 182.5 

All species 1,488.9 582.7 339.8 242 .. 9 3"58.·7 547.5 

Percent 100.0 39.1 22.8 16.3 . 24.1 36.8 

JJ · Not included in the · cubic-foot volumes shown in Tabl$s 6 and 7 excepting the 6 •. 5 million cubic feet in tops of softwood trees. 

g; Not included in the cubic-foot volume shown in .Tables 6 and 7. 

2./ Includes 5·.4 million cubic feet of redcedar. 

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APPENDlX · 

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EXPLANATION OF TERMS USED 

Forest land - Land bearing forest growth or land from which the - forest has been removed but which shows evidence. of past forest occupancy and which is not now in other · use. · To qualify as forest, an area must: (1) be at least 100 feet wide; (2) be at least one acre in area; (3) have a suffi- cient number of trees to provide 10 percent crown coverage, or (4) lacking 10 percent crown coverage, be likely to re- main in forest use. 

Commercial forest land - Forest land. bearing or capable of bearing timber of commercial character and economically available now or prospectively for commercial use and not withdrawn from such use. 

Noncommercial forest land - Forest land not qualifying as . commercial forest land. Two classes of forest area are in- cluded: (1) commercially valuable forest land withdrawn from timber use for such purposes as parks, game refuges, military rese~vations, or reservoir protection; and (2) forest land which because of poor growing conditions will not pro- duce trees of commercial quality. 

Forest ~ypes 

Shortleaf pine - Stands in which pine trees comprise at least 60 percent of the dominant and codominant trees. 

Cedar-hardwoods - Stands in which redcedar comprises at least 2b percent' of the dominant and codominant trees. · 

.Oak-pine - Stands of pine; oaks, and other hardwoods in which pines comprise 20-60 percent of the dominant and codominant 

trees. 

Oak-hickory - Stands of hardwoods in which oaks and hickories 

c v:wprise at least 60 percent qf the dominant and codominant 

trees. 

Mixed hardwoods - Stands of mixed hardwood species not quali- fying for other hardwood types. Principal species include elm, maple, basswood, and black walnut in mixture -with oaks and hickories. 

B.ottomland har.dwoods - Stands on the alluvial bottoms of rivers and streams. The principal species include sycamore, willow·; elm, · blackgum, sweetgum, soft ma,ple, oaks, hickory; cotton- wood, and cypress. · 

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White oak - Stands in which white oak (~uercus alba) comprises at least 60 percent of the dominant and codominant trees. 

Tree classes 

Sound saw-timber tree - A coniferous tree at least 9.0 inches d.b.h. (diameter outside bark at 4.5 feet above ground), or a hardwood tree at least 11.0 inches d.b.h., with a sound butt log at least 8 feet long, or with at least half of the gross · volume of the tree in sound material. 

Sound pole-timber tree -A tree at least 5.0 inches d.b.h. but ·less than saw-timber size, which now is or gives promise of becoming a sound merchantable tree. 

Cull tree - A tree that does not qualify as a sound pol~~ 

tbber or saw-timber tree because of poor form, limbiness, rot, or other defect. 

Volume estimates 

Board-foot volume - Includes the volume of that portion of saw-timber trees merchantable for sawlogs. Volume deductions have been made for rot, crook, and other defects. Board- foot volumes are shown in the International 1/4 inch log rule, which approximates green lumber tally. 

Cubic-foot volume - Except where specifically noted, includes the volume of sound wood inside bark in: ( 1) the saw-tL1ber portion of sound trees, (2) the upper stems of saw-tiQber-size conifers to a minimum diameter of 4 inches inside bark, and (3) the sound pole-timber trees to the same minimum top dia- meter. 

Stand-size class 

Saw timber - Stands having a minimum net volume of 1500 board .feet per acre. 

Pole timber - Stands having a net 

board feet per acre but whic.h are 

with pole-size and larger trees. 

mum stocking must be in pole-size 

volume of less than 1500 

at least 10 percent stocked 

At least one-half the minitrees. 

Seedlings and saplings - Stands not qualifying either for saw timber or pole timber but having at least 300 seedlings and saplings of commercial species per acre • . 

Poorly stocked .... Commercial forest land not qualifying for 

any other class, including denuded areas.· 

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Species listed 

Shortleaf pine - Pinus echina:ta .. . 

Redcedar - Eastern redc edar - Juniperus virginiana 

White oak - Quercus alba 

Post oak group. includes: 

Post oak - Quercus. · st.ellata .. Swamp white oak - Quercus bic olor .. Swamp chestnut oak - Quercus prinus_ Overcup oak - Q.uercus lyra ta . · Bur oak - Querc.u.s Il18.c..ro.car.pa 

Chinquapin oak - Quer::ms mu.ehlenbergii . Post oak is the principal species. 

Black oak - Quercus velutina 

Scarlet oak - Quercus coccinea 

Northern red oak - Quercus boreaLia 

Other red oaks include: 

Southern red oak - Quercus falcata 

Pin oak - Quercus p.alustris 

Willow oak . - Quercus phellos 

Water oak - Quercus nigra .· Shingle oak ..:. Quercus .. imhr.i.cari.a 

Hickory - includes all species of hickory (Carya) 

Blackgum - Nyssa sylvatica __ Nyssa aquatic.aq 

Elm - includes all species of elm (Ulmus) . 

SycaLJ.ore - Platanus. occidentali s. 

Ash - includes all species of ash (Fraxinus) 

Black walnut - Juglans .. .nigr.a .. 

Other hardwoods - includes all other commercial hardwood 

species 

Noncommercial species - includes species which do not 

normally have commercial 1ml.ue suc.h as blackjack oak 1 

sassafras, blue beech, ironwood, ald.e r, rec1 bud and 

service berry. 

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FOREST SURVEY PROCEDutm 

The inventory of the forest resources of the Southwestern 

'Ozark region was made in February _and March 1947. A sampling procedure was used involving an office study of aerial photographs and a field examination of randomly sele.cted forest and nonforest 

plots. 

The proportion of forest land· by counties was obtained by placing over each photograph a transparent template with four 

uniformly sp·aced dots and counting the number of dots falling on 

forest and on nonforest areas. The percentage of forest dots in 

a COIJ.nty. applie_d to the . total land area gave a preliminary estimate of the forestacreage. 

·The locatidn ·of al ter.nate dots falling on forest land was 

marked on the photograph. The acre surrounding each marked dot 

was examined .under stereoscope and classified by stand-size class 

on the basis of the height, crown width, and density of trees on 

the plot. · 

Plots for field examination were selected from those photo 

classified as follows: 

f Saw· tim.be.r - - - - --... - - - 1 in 5 Pole timber - - - - - - - 1 in 10 

Seedling& Sapling- - .. ._ 1 in 20 

Pporly stocked - - ·- - - - - 1 in 10 

In addition, every 50th· nohforest plot was selected for field examination to measure the movement of nonforest land to forest. 

The locations of the selected plots were marked on the photo- graphs which were ·then sent to the field. Crews of two me.n each 

located these points on t~e ground and at each established a 1/5 

acre plot on which· they re'corded the species, size, condi ti.on, and 

growth rate of · trees, an~ the f'.orest type and site quality of plots. A field check ot the photo interpreter's stand-size~class determination was also made. The field examination also provided a 

basis ror adjusting the preliminary estimate of forest and non- forest area. · 

A tot~l of 18~620 dots were ~aunted on the photos for forest 

area determination. St~reosce>pi e examinations were made or1 5, 917 

forest plots tc .determiile stand-.size class, and 678 plots were 

examinee. on the ground. Thess photo and field examinations pro- vided the basic data tor computation of forest area and tL~ber volume statistic~ for the reg~on. 

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ACOUBACY .. OJJ' DA.~ 

Forest area - Statistical analysis of the forest area 

data for the Southwestern Ozark region shows a sampj_ing 

error of ± 1•6 percent of the total forest area or f 50~000 acres, at a level of one standard deviation. The 

error of estimate increases with eac.h subdivision of the 

total forest area so that small _tabular acreages may have 

large errors and therefore indicate only relative magnitudes~ 

The sampling error of the forest area estimate of individual counties. is within 1 10 percent; 

Timber vo~ume, - The sampling error of the total boa'rctfootvolume in the region .is ± 6.7 percent or .i 132 million 

board feet. This does not include the errors ·of volume 

tables, cull factors, or other phases of the inventory work 

for which satisfactory methods of measuring accuracy have not 

been developed. All phases of field work and computations 

were closely supervised to keep these erro,rs at a minimum. 

Again the error of estimate increases with each subdivision 

of the total volume so that small volumes indicate only relative magnitudes. 

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0 . W A 

INDIANA 

II.I.INOIS 

. . . ... W: l S ·s 0 U It I 

" £ 

N T U 

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.I 

TERRITORY SERVED 

BY THE 

0 1'4 I 0 \ 

\ 

I. 

... 

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CENTRAL STATES FOREST EXPERIMENT STATION 

FOREST SERVICE 

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE