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- Info
Profiles of Midsouth nonindustrial private forests and owners
| Author: |
Rosson, J.F., Jr.; Doolittle, L. |
| Date: |
1987 |
| Periodical: |
Resource Bulletin SO-125. New Orleans, LA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Forest Experiment Station |
| Abstract: |
Information about the nonindustrial private forest (NIPF) and owner is readily available from many sources, but it often is presented in a manner that obscures differences and similarities between NIPFs and other ownership categories. This bulletin summarizes NIPF resources within the Midsouth States (fig. 1) and compares NIPF traits with other ownership classes. Much of the data in this bulletin has been presented elsewhere, but in a different format. The resource characteristics (tables 1-10) are presented in the most recent State reports published by the Forest Inventory and Analysis Unit (FIA) of the Southern Forest Experiment Station (Rudis et al. 1984, Birdsey 1983, vanHees 1980, Murphy 1978, Murphy 1977, Murphy 1976, Murphy 1975). The one exception is the "forest management type" data in table 3. These data were compiled by FIA analysts as part of a study of the South's timber supply. The NIPF category in tables 1-10 is made up of three types of owners: "Farmer," "Miscellaneous Private: Individual," and "Miscellaneous Private: Corporate." Each is defined in the FIA State reports. During the period from 1974 to 1982, these ownership classes held 68.3 million of the Midsouth's 99.0 million acres of timberland-69 percent. This proportionate share of total ownership is one of many possible criteria that could be used as a basis for comparing NIPFs to other ownership categories. Because 69 percent of the Midsouth timberland area is in NIPF, it seems reasonable to assume that various resource characteristics would be distributed in similar proportions, assuming particular ownership classes do not have a built-in bias for types of land owned, especially with regard to productivity. Deviations of forest attribute proportions from the area proportions indicate the strengths and weaknesses of the NIPF resource, mainly the result of man-induced disturbance. The landowner characteristics (tables 11-18) were collected for the nationwide study of private forest landowners in 1978 by the Forest Service and the Economic Research Service. Although published earlier for the Nation and various regions (Birch et al., 1982), data for each of the seven Midsouth States are presented here for the first time. State survey data collected between 1974 and 1982 were used in this bulletin because of the relevancy in time to the landowner characteristics data (1978), even though data is available from more recent Midsouth State surveys. |
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