The decline of southern yellow pine timberland

Abstract

The South has lost 16 million acres of southern yellow pine timberland since 1953. Factors contributing to the decline include suppression of wildfires, reduced prescribed burning, southern pine beetles, urban development, high-grading, and a lack of artificial regeneration on privately owned timberlands. Tree-planting programs on agricultural lands have helped slow the decline, and according to the Southern Forest Resource Assessment, an increase in southern yellow pine timberland could occur if 23 million acres of former cropland and pastureland were planted to pines during the next four decades. Such an effort would likely require subsidies.