Site and Yield Information Applicable to Virginia’s Hardwoods: A Review

In 1966 Virginia had a hardwood growing stock volume of 10.5 billion cubic feet and a hardwood sawtimber volume of almost 26. 3 billion board feet. Hardwood timber was distributed over more than 12.8 million acres of commercial forest land in the state (Knight and McClure, 1967). This hardwood timber is converted into a multitude of finished products. Hardwoods comprise well over one-half of the total volume in Virginia's multi-million dollar forest products industry each year. Thus the hardwood resource is very important to the welfare of the citizens of the Old Dominion. Despite the importance of hardwoods in Virginia's timber industry, most hardwood stands have not been placed under intensive forest management. An essential ingredient of a forest management program is information on the yields of timber products which can be achieved by the various tree species on different sites. Yield and site data which can be applied to Virginia's hardwoods are still relatively scarce. The purpose of this paper is to survey the primary works on the yields of hardwood species found in Virginia and to present results from studies on the relations of hardwood growth to various site conditions.