East Texas Forests, 2003

Abstract

Forest land covers 12.1 million acres in east Texas, or about 57 percent of the land area. The majority of forests, 11.9 million acres, are classed as timberland. The 2003 timberland area is the highest recorded since 1975. Forests classed as softwood forest types were found on 5.2 million acres of the timberland; almost one-half of the softwood forests are pine plantations. More than 80 tree species were recorded during the inventory. These species account for 17.2 billion cubic feet of merchantable volume. Softwood and hardwood volumes have increased since the previous inventory in 1992. During the 1992 to 2003 period, net annual growth averaged 796 million cubic feet, whereas annual removals averaged 736 million cubic feet.