Foreword Forests at a tipping pointOhio's forests are a critical component of the state's natural resources. Covering nearly 8 million acres, or 30 percent of the state, these diverse forests support important biological communities and create habitat for wildlife, forest products, clean water, and opportunities for recreation. Essential to making sound decisions about Ohio's forests is credible information. Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) data help fill this need. Such data tell us where we are and where we are going, and they provide the basis for making informed decisions about how we can sustain our forests for future generations.The fifth inventory of Ohio's forests suggests that we are at a tipping point. Ohio's forests hold more wood, provide more wildlife habitat, and store more carbon than 15 years ago. Yet, for the first time since the 1940s, the acreage of Ohio's forest land has not increased, and some parts of the state have seen large losses in forest cover. More Ohioans than ever own forest land and enjoy the many benefits that forests provide. But, as Ohio's forest lands are subdivided and fragmented, the ability of these forests to provide timber, wildlife habitat, recreation, and solitude is reduced. Oak-hickory forests make up over one-half of the state's forests. Oaks as seedlings and saplings, however, have declined in abundance, and oaks will likely play a smaller role in Ohio's future forests. The quality and value of our timber has increased during the past 15 years, and landowners intend to harvest trees on onefifth of Ohio's forested acres in the next 5 years. However, only 4 percent of forest landowners have a formal management plan for their forests, and fewer than one in seven seeks any sort of advice before making decisions that will affect them and their forests for decades.John F. Kennedy said: "It is our task in our time and in our generation, to hand down undiminished to those who come after us, as was handed down to us by those who went before, the natural wealth and beauty which is ours." The data presented in this report clearly highlight the challenges our forests face: fragmentation, uninformed management, loss of oak, invasive species, and a host of other concerns. How we address these concerns, how we balance forest conservation and sustainable use, will determine the forests that future generations experience and the benefits they receive. Doubtless, the FIA reports of tomorrow will document the successes, or the failures, of the choices we make today. IntroductionThis is the fifth inventory of Ohio's forests, the first using a new annualized inventory system. Previous inventories were completed for 1952 (Hutchison and Morgan 1956), 1968(Kingsley and Mayer 1970), 1979(Dennis and Birch 1981), and 1991(Griffith et al. 1993. These inventories provided a snapshot of the forest for specific periods in time after which no new information was available until the next full inventory of the State. Henceforth, inventory data for the State will be updated annually and full rem...
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