Analysis of the timber situation in Florida, 1995 to 2025
By: Roger C. Conner and Raymond M. Sheffield.
Contributors: Sheffield, Raymond M.; United States. Forest Service. Southern Research Station.
Series: Research paper SRS -- 42.
Publisher: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station
Published: 2006
Place of publication: Asheville, NC
Language: eng
Number of pages: 17
Subjects: Lumber trade -- Florida.; Timber -- Florida.; Forest products industry -- Florida.
Description: The nationwide demand for wood fiber is expected to increase in the foreseeable future. Harvesting restrictions on forest lands in the West have increased pressure on the South's forest resources to provide more wood. The ability of Florida and other Southern States to respond is uncertain. The authors describe the extent, condition, and availability of Florida's timber resource, and they project levels of growing-stock volume, net annual growth, and annual removals to the year 2025. Those projections are based on future timber demand, as reflected in harvest requests. The extent of the State's timber resource is determined by 1995 estimates of forested acres and the rate at which acres are being added or removed from the timber base due to natural or human-caused activities. Forest condition is represented by annual rates of growth and mortality and their combined effect on levels of timber volume. Timber availability is largely dictated by ownership holdings and, for the purposes of this paper, by the age of forest stands. Future timber harvest requests for Florida are derived from projections of estimated removals throughout the South as documented in the 1993 Resources Planning Act report. The Aggregate Timberland Assessment System (ATLAS) was the model used to project future estimates of growing stock, net growth, and removals in response to harvest requests. Overall, the projections suggest that Florida is well positioned to meet increased demand for wood, in spite of an expected shortfall of available southern yellow pine volume on forest-industry timberland by 2010. However, crucial factors influencing future timber availability in Florida are retaining the current timber base and working with ever-changing publicexpectations of forest-management practices.
Notes: "September 2006."

Includes bibliographical references (p. 17).

Also available via Internet.