South Carolina’s Forests, 2021

Abstract

South Carolina’s 12.8 million acres of forest cover 66 percent of the State. This forest land area has remained relatively stable for the past 20 years. The most notable change in ownership has primarily been forest industry’s acquisition of timberland acres from nonindustrial corporate entities. In 2016, forest industry owned 227,800 acres in South Carolina, and by 2021 it increased to 468,600 acres (more than doubled). Loblolly-shortleaf pine (Pinus taeda–echinata) remains the predominant forest type group followed by oak-hickory (Quercus–Carya) forest. These forests hold slightly more than 26 billion cubic feet of wood volume and 720 million oven-dry tons of aboveground live-tree biomass. Softwood annual net growth and removals trended upwards while mortality declined from previously observed levels, giving a growthto-removals ratio (a measure used to assess resource sustainability) of 1.4. Conversely, hardwood growth and removals were slightly down while their mortality increased, giving a growth-to-removals ratio of 1.6. Wildland forest fires were the most frequently recorded disturbance on forest land, followed by weather events and forest diseases. There was an average 68.0 million tons of down woody material carbon and 144.6 million tons on the forest floor in duff and litter. Chinaberry (Melia azedarach), Chinese tallow (Triadica sebifera), Chinese/ European privets (Ligustrum spp.), Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica), Nepalese browntop (Microstegium vimineum), and Chinese or sericea lespedeza (Lespedeza cuneata) were the most commonly encountered nonnative invasive plants on forested plots. A diverse forest products industry in South Carolina is made up of a variety of mills, ranging from small to large-sized softwood and hardwood sawmills, pole, veneer, composite, bioenergy, and other miscellaneous mills to very large pulp mills. The total number of sawmills, pulpwood mills, and other primary wood-processing plants distributed across the State has moderately increased. 

Citation

Lambert, S.G.; Gray, J.; McCollum, J.M.; Brandeis, T.J.; Brown, M.J. 2025. South Carolina’s Forests, 2021. Resour. Bull. SRS–248. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station. 96 p.