8 VIRGINIA FORESTS Virginia has an abundance of forest cover (currently approximately 16 million acres). That was not always the case. Indigenous inhabitants often used fire to maintain openings in the forest and to promote patches of early succession habitats. By the mid-1800s, clearing for agriculture and harvests conducted to meet the need for timber, charcoal, and other wood products had removed significant portions of the remaining forest cover from large swaths of the Virginia landscape (Fig. 1). Contiguous blocks of forest largely existed only on steep slopes or wet sites—terrain deemed unsafe to allow harvest or unsuitable for conversion to agricultural uses. With the rise of industrial and commercial expansion and the abandonment of unprofitable farms, natural succession and the purposeful replanting of tree seedlings (often using Civilian Conservation Corps crews) initiated the conversion of previously cleared lands back to woody growth. The return of forest cover was a slow, but continuous, process and reached a peak in the 1970s, when forested lands covered approximately 68 percent of Virginia. Virginia’s Forests Today Although the current amount of land area in Virginia dominated by forest has remained stable for several decades at nearly 60 percent, the age and composition of this forest continue to change. Today, 81 percent of Virginia’s timberland forest is classified as either pole timber- (36%) or saw timber-sized (45%) growth. More importantly, approximately 75 percent of current hardwood stands and 50 percent of softwood stands fall into the larger (and hence older) saw timbersized category; whereas, the acreage in younger, small diameter stands continues to decline. Despite the fact that large swaths of forest in Virginia are set aside as either national or state forests, over 80 percent of today’s forestland lies in private ownership and, within that ownership group, most of those holdings (88%) are less than 50 acres in size. About half of these forest landowners have never harvested timber, and fewer than five percent express plans to do so in the near future. Of further concern, the percentage of forest landowners who possess a written forest management plan has dropped from 17 percent to about four percent since 1994—but a fact to consider: possession does not equate to implementation. For a variety of reasons (e.g., lack of time, money, equipment, know how), many such plans simply gather dust, and implementation of recommended management actions never occurs. Thus, it appears that current trends in forest structure on privately held forestland Figure 1. View of the mid-1800 deforested landscape of the Appalachian Mountain region. (PHOTO FROM US FOREST SERVICE, GREENBRIER RANGER DISTRICT) Maintaining the Traditions of Deer Hunting in Virginia’s Changing Forests WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD? Photo by Fred Schatzki By Jim Parkhurst
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