Those in national forest are usually small, averaging less than 10,000 acres. They offer unfragmented wildlife habitat, intact watersheds, and are the remaining undeveloped public lands. These are 1,231,961 acres in the SAA region, with 752,654 acres on national forest land. About 435 million cubic feet of timber are harvested annually, almost equally divided between softwood and hardwood species. Half is used for sawlogs and the other half for pulpwood and composition board.
Mining is significant only in southwestern Virginia.
Old Growth Forest is loosely defined as forest with trees over 100 years of age, but the definition of old growth is currently being refined. Recent surveys indicate that far more old growth acres exist. On the Grandfather Ranger District of the Pisgah National Forest, over 36,000 acres of old growth were recently identified, much of it previously undocumented. The southern Appalachian region is the headwaters of nine major rivers, and is one of the most diverse bioregions in the temperate world. The Conasauga River and the Clinch-Powell River drainages are the habitat for more species of fish than any other rivers in North America.