Texas Almanac, 1996-1997 Page: 85
672 p. : col. ill., maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this book.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
Environment
Texas Forest Resources
This information was provided by Roger Lord, Forest Resource Analyst, Texas Forest Service, The Texas A&M University
System, College Station, TX 77843- 2136. Readers needing additional information on forest resources are welcome to contact the
author at the above address.It is a surprise to many people, including life-long
Texans, that the state has an abundant and diverse
forest resource. Trees cover roughly 13 percent of the
state's land area. The 22 million acres of forests and
woodlands in Texas is an area larger than the states of
Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Rhode
Island and Vermont combined. The principal forest and
woodlands regions are: the East Texas pine-hardwood
region often called the Piney Woods; the Post Oak
Belt, which lies immediately west of the pine-hardwood
forest; the East and West Cross Timbers areas of
North Central Texas; the Cedar Brakes of Central
Texas; the mountain forests of West Texas; and the
coastal forests of the southern Gulf Coast.
The East Texas Piney Woods
Although Texas contains about 22 million acres of
forest and woodlands, detailed forest resource data is
available for only the 43-county East Texas timber
region. The Piney Woods, which form the westem
edge of the southern pine region, extend from Bowie
and Red River counties in Northeast Texas, to Jeffer-
son, Harris and Waller counties in southeast Texas.
This region contains 11.9 million acres of forest and is
the most economically important forest area of the
state, producing nearly all of the commercial timber.
The following discussion summarizes the findings of
the most recent Forest Survey of East Texas, con-
ducted in 1992 by the USDA Forest Service Southern
Forest Experiment Station.
Timberland Acreage and Ownership
Nearly all (11.8 of 11.9 million acres) of the East
Texas forest is classified as "timberland," which is suit-
able for production of timber products and not
reserved as parks or wilderness areas. In contrast to
the trends in several other southern states, Texas tim-
berland acreage is on a slight upward track. Acreage
in timberland increased by 2 percent between 1986
and 1992. Seventy-four percent of the new timberland
acres came from agricultural lands, such as idle farm-
land and pasture, which was either intentionally
planted with trees or naturally reverted to forest.
Sixty-one percent of 11.8 million acres of East
Texas timberland is owned by approximately 150,000
farmers, private individuals, families, partnerships and
non-wood-using corporations. Thirty-two percent is
owned by forest-products companies, and only 7 per-
cent is owned by the government. The following table
shows acreage of timberland by ownership:Ownership Class
Non-industrial Private:
Farmer ..........
Corporate ........
Individual.........
Forest Industry .......
Public:
National Forest ....
Misc. Federal......
State ...........
County & Municipal.Thous. Acres
..........1,161.8
........... 954.3
..........5,106.9
......... 3,767.4
........... 576.7
............91.8
............ 68.1
............ 46.8Total....................... 11,773.8
There are distinct regional differences in owner-
ship patterns. Most forest-industry land is found south
of Nacogdoches County, and timberland in somecounties, such as Polk and Hardin, is as much as 75
percent owned by the forest-products industry. North
of Nacogdoches, the nonindustrial private landowner
predominates, and industry owns a much smaller per-
cent of the timberland.
Forest Types
Six major forest types are found in the East Texas
Piney Woods. Two pine forest types are most com-
mon. The loblolly-shortleaf and longleaf-slash forest
types are dominated by the four species of southem
yellow pine. In these forests, pine trees make up at
least 50 percent of the trees.
Oak-hickory is the second most common forest
type. These are upland hardwood forests in which
oaks or hickories make up at least 50 percent of the
trees, and pine species are less than 25 percent. Oak-
pine is a mixed-forest type in which more than 50 per-
cent of the trees are hardwoods, but pines make up 25
to 49 percent of the trees.
Two forest types, oak-gum-cypress and elm-ash-
cottonwood, are bottomland types which are com-
monly found along creeks, river bottoms, swamps and
other wet areas. The oak-gum-cypress forests are typ-
ically made up of many species including blackgum,
sweetgum, oaks and southern cypress. The elm-ash-
cottonwood bottomland forests are dominated by
those trees but also contain many other species, such
as willows, sycamore, and maple. The following table
shows the breakdown in acreage by forest type:
Forest Type Group Thous. Acres
Southem Pine:
Loblolly-shortleaf ............ 4,063.7
Longleaf-slash .............. ..232.9
Oak-pine ..................... 2,503.8
Oak-hickory ...... .......... 3,146.9
Bottomland Hardwood:
Oak-gum-cypress ............ 1,755.8
Elm-ash-cottonwood ............. 71.0
Total ....................... 11,773.8
Southern pine plantations, established by tree
planting and usually managed intensively to maximize
timber production, are an increasingly important
source of wood fiber. Texas forests include 1.8 million
acres of pine plantations, 72 percent of which are on
forest-industry-owned land, 22 percent on nonindus-
trial private, and 6 percent on public land. Plantation
acreage increased 48 percent between 1986 and
1992. Genetically superior tree seedlings, produced at
industry and Texas Forest Service nurseries, are usu-
ally planted to improve survival and growth.
Timber Volume and Number of Trees
Texas timberland contains 12.9 billion cubic feet of
timber "growing-stock" volume. This is enough wood
fiber to produce 200 billion copies of National Geo-
graphic. The inventory of softwood remained steady at
7.9 billion cubic feet, while the hardwood inventory
increased nearly 12 percent to 5.1 billion cubic feet,
between 1986 and 1992.
There are more trees in East Texas than there are
people living on Earth - an estimated 6.9 billion live
trees - according to the 1992 survey. This includes 2
billion softwoods, 4.1 billion hardwoods, and .7 billion
trees of noncommercial species. The predominant
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This book can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Book.
Ramos, Mary G. Texas Almanac, 1996-1997, book, 1995; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth162514/m1/85/: accessed May 4, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.