Proceedings of the policy and program conference on "The South's fourth forest; alternatives for the future."

Abstract

Ladies and gentlemen, we are gathered here at a critical time in the history of forestry in the South. In recent decades it has been a history of great success. There have been large and continuing increases in timber growth and inventories. Timber is now the most important agricultural crop in the South. The forest industries lead all other manufacturing industries in number of employees and in wages and salaries paid to workers. But there are changes of great significance underway. The most recent surveys of our forest resources show that net annual timber growth has (1)