Georgia’s forests, 2009

Abstract

The principle findings of the 2009 forest survey in the State of Georgia and changes that have occurred since previous surveys are presented. There are 24.8 million acres of forest in Georgia. Over 65 percent of the State is forested, with all survey units having more forest land than nonforest land. Georgia’s forest resources are not only considerable, they have been relatively stable, showing little change in either forest land or timberland area in the past 10 years. Forest land in Georgia held 16.5 billion trees with diameter at breast height (d.b.h.) >1 inch, and those trees held 2.2 billion tons of green aboveground biomass. There were 40.7 billion cubic feet of net volume in trees with d.b.h. ≥5 inches. We estimate that 714,600 acres of forest were disturbed annually from 2004 to 2009; the most commonly occurring disturbances were forest fires and tree diseases. The forests of Georgia store approximately 1.7 billion tons of carbon in the aboveground and belowground portions of live and dead trees, understory seedlings and shrubs, coarse woody material, forest floor litter, and soil organic material.

Keywords

Components of change, forest inventory, FIA, forest survey, forest trends, Georgia.

Citation

Brandeis, Thomas J. 2015. Georgia s forests, 2009. Resource Bulletin SRS-207. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Southern Research Station. 59 p.