The 2000 Alabama Survey

Survey facts

• Southern Research Station – Forest Inventory and Analysis (SRSFIA)
• Conducts continuing inventories of 13 southern states
• Past surveys of Alabama are: 1936, 1953, 1963, 1972, 1982, & 1990
• The 2000 survey took three years to complete and involved 4,443 permanent plots

Increase in timberland area

• 71% of Alabama is covered in forest
• The 2000 survey indicates that Alabama has 22.9 million acres of forest land, an increase of one million acres in 10 years
• 46% of the states forests are classified into hardwood forest types, while 35 percent are designated as softwood, with the remaining 19% being mixed types
• Planted stands account for 24 % of the timberland area

Increase in inventory

• Total softwood volumes were up 9% to 12.7 billion cubic feet
• Total hardwood volumes were up 17% to 15.2 billion cubic feet
• Planted stands accounted for 35% of the softwood volume

Growth and removals

• Net annual growth of softwood growing-stock increased 34 percent to 884 million cubic feet per year
• Net annual growth of hardwoods increased 5 percent since 1990 to 569 million cubic feet per year

• Annual removals of softwood growing stock averaged 890 million cubic feet, an increase of 24 percent since the previous survey
• Annual removals of hardwood growing stock averaged 407 million cubic feet, an increase of 10 percent

• Planted stands accounted for 50 percent of softwood growth and 30 percent of softwood removals