BRIEFING PAPER
PRELIMINARY FOREST INVENTORY ANALYSIS UPDATE
(Selected Highlights Only)

Alabama Forestry Commission
August, 2001

Selected Highlights of the Recently Completed 6th Periodic Alabama Forest Inventory:

Unit 1 - Southwest-South Alabama, 1999 (Washington, Escambia, Mobile, Baldwin, Escambia) (PUBLISHED)

• Timberland area has increased by 1% since 1990
• The NIPF ownership increased by 21% with a 40% decrease in industrial lands.
• Volume of softwood growing stock up 5%
• Volume of hardwood growing stock up 5%
• Overall softwood growth increased by 15% - removals increased by 29% (1.04 to 1.00 GD ratio)
• Overall hardwood growth increased by 19% - removals increased by 39% (1.36 to 1.00 GD ratio)

Unit 2 - Southwest-North Alabama, 1999 (Sumter, Marengo, Wilcox, Monroe, Conecuh, Clarke, Choctaw) (PUBLISHED)

• Timberland area has increased by 4% since 1990
• The NIPF ownership increased by 26% with a 40% decrease in industrial lands.
• Volume of softwood growing stock up 12%
• Volume of hardwood growing stock up 18%
• Overall softwood growth increased by 37% - removals increased by 48% (1.08 to 1.00 GD ratio)
• Overall hardwood growth increased by 35% on NIPF - removals decreased by 17% (1.43 to 1.00 GD ratio)

Unit 6 - North Alabama Counties, 1999 (Colbert, DeKalb, Franklin, Jackson, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone, Madison, Marshall, Morgan) (NOT PUBLISHED)

• Timberland has increased by 8% since 1990
• Mixed pine-hardwood timberland increased 63% while pine timberland is down 24%
• Volume of softwood growing stock is up 6%
• Volume of hardwood growing stock is up 50%
• Overall softwood growth increased by 13% - removals increased by nearly 70% (.75 to 1.0 GD ratio)
• Overall hardwood growth increased by 45% - removals increased by 10% (2.75 to 1.0 GD ratio)

Unit 4 - West Central Alabama Counties, 1999 (Bibb, Fayette, Greene, Hale, Lamar, Marion, Perry, Pickens, Tuscaloosa) (NOT PUBLISHED)

• Timberland has increased by 1% since 1990
• Hardwood timberland down by 8% - Softwood timberland up by 12%
• Volume of softwood growing stock is up by 14%
• Volume of hardwood growing stock is up 15%
• Overall softwood growth increased by 52% - removals increased by 12% (.96 to 1.0 GD ratio)
• Overall hardwood growth decreased by 6% - removals decreased by 2% (1.07 to 1.0 GD ratio)

(Stocking levels determined by basal area, increased in all four Units -"more trees". Although tighter than in 1990, there is still a positive growth/drain relationship in Units 1 & 2 for hardwood and softwood "more wood growing than being cut". Hardwoods in Unit 6 dramatically increased for both total volumes and for growth. Units 3 & 5 (East-Central & Southeast Alabama areas) field data is being processed by the U.S.F.S.)

GD stands for "Growth to Drain." 
1.25 to 1.0 GD ratio means growth is greater than drain.

AFOA Editor's Highlights in yellow.

Ongoing Southern Annual Forest Inventory System (SAFIS) Update:

• SAFIS was immediately implemented on January 8, 2001;
• SAFIS, the new national Forest Inventory System, requires an annual inventory of the FIA plots; We will inventory one band or 20% of the plots each year; The cycle will be started over at the end of the 5th year;
• Nine FIA Crew Leaders & three assistants were trained and recertified on the new national field manual and plot design;
• The FIA Crew Leaders & assistants were paired together for two weeks initially to establish the expected level of quality control & production with the new system as dictated by the U.S. Forest Service;
• The first 20% of plots or panel #3 (randomly chosen from 5 panels) include 1,159 total plots; Seventy (70) of these plots will be overlapped by Forest Health Monitoring plots; The average time needed per Crew Leader to complete the 20% inventory in their respective areas is approximately 10 months;
• As of August 3, 2001, the FIA Crew Leaders had surveyed 756 plots or approximately 66% of the 2001 SAFIS survey.

(SAFIS shortens the inventory cycle through a continuous annual inventory that systematically measures a percentage of FIA plots each year; thus, providing resource managers with more up-to-date information for making accurate and non-speculative decisions. SAFIS will allow resource managers and others to better track increased pressures and impacts on Alabama's forest resource such as those caused by wildland/urban interface, increased demand for wood products and catastrophic events such as hurricanes.)