Timber resources of Ohio

Under the authority of the McSweeney-McNary Forest Research Act of May 22, 1928, and subsequent amendments, the Forest Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture, conducts a series of continuing forest surveys of all states to provide up-to-date information about the forest resources of the Nation. A resurvey of the timber resources of Ohio was made in 1966 and 1967 by the Northeastern Forest Experiment Station, approximately 16 years after the initial forest survey. In this resurvey, the State of Ohio provided an appropriation of $75,000 to intensify the forest survey in the heavily forested portions of the State. Also, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Bureau of Forestry and Reclamation, assisted in the collection of data on timber removal and timber-products output, as well as through consultation with Forest Service personnel. Carl E. Mayer, project leader, directed the resurvey. Joseph E. Barnard was in charge of computing and tabulating all inventory data, including those for the Wayne National Forest, which were collected by personnel of the Eastern Region of the U. S. Forest Service. Paul S. DeBald and James T. Bones collected and compiled the data on timber removals, with the assistance of the Ohio Division of Forestry and Reclamation personnel. Teresa M. Bowers assisted with the compilations and checked the statistical data. The field work was completed in December 1967. The Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service provided up-to-date aerial photographs for use in this resurvey. This report summarizes the timber-resource situation and the changes that have taken place since the initial survey. Trends in the supply of timber for forest-based industries are pointed out, and projections of future timber supply are made. In this survey, some of the initial ground plots were remeasured to provide estimates of net annual timber growth and estimates of land-use change, and to update the initial forest-inventory volume. To develop an independent second estimate, newly established and previously unmeasured ground plots were measured. These two estimates were weighted and combined to provide the current estimates of forest area and timber volume. Sampling errors, which indicate the reliability of the estimates, are shown for most of the totals of breakdowns of the new estimates. Users of these resource data are cautioned to read carefully the definitions of forest-survey terms and the section on the reliability of the estimates in the appendix of this report.