Historic, Archive Document Do not assume content reflects current scientific knowledge, policies, or practices. CONNECTICUT'S FORESTS N AT I ON A ^AGRICULTURAL LIBRARY Forests provide wood and other products, watershed protection, wildlife habitat, biodiversity, a setting for recreation, and much more. Highlighted here are significant trends in Connecticut's forests over the last half-century. Data are summarized from forest inventories conducted by the USDA Forest Service, which periodically inventories the Nation's forest resources. In cooperation with the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection Division of Forestry, the Forest Service completed the fourth statewide inventory of Connecticut's forests, in 1998. THE EXTENT OF CONNECTICUT'S REGROWN FOREST Forests are the predominant type of natural vegetation in Connecticut, covering 1 .9 million acres or 60 percent of the State. Connecticut was not always this heavily forested. Early settlers here cleared nearly three-fourths of the original forest for agriculture. Acreage farmed peaked around the middle of the 1 9th century, and then began a long decline that still contin- ues. Forests have reclaimed much of the abandoned farmland through natural regeneration. The upward trend in forest area peaked during the 1 950s. Since 1 972, the amount of new for- est land coming from abandoned farms has roughly equaled losses of forest land to development, with the total amount of forest land remaining stable. It is unlikely this trend will con- tinue because there are no longer large amounts of marginal farmland to revert to forest, and development pressures are in- creasing on both farm and forest land. AREA BY LAND USE, 1998 ^^^^^^^^1 ^"^v. other ^^^^^^^^^^^ft \ / Farmland ^^^^^B \y 8.7% other forest land 5.3% In view of its long history and advanced state of economic development, the amount of forest in Connecticut is remark- able. Litchfield County is the most heavily forested (75 percent) and Fairfield County the least (37 percent). Forest land is categorized by the USDA Forest Service as either timberland or noncommercial forest land. Categorizing forest land is helpful in understanding resource availability and planning forest management. Timberland is capable of growing timber crops and is potentially available for harvesting. Ninety- seven percent of Connecticut's forest land (1 .7 million acres) is classified as timberland. Noncommercial forest land includes reserved forest lands, unproductive forests, and urban forests. Harvesting for timber products on these lands is administratively restricted or economically impractical. Examples include parks. wildlife preserves, and mountaintops and wet- lands with poor growing conditions. Noncommercial forest land has increased steadily from 17,000 acres in 1953 to 163,200 acres in 1998. Nearly all of this increase is due to the reclassification of tim- berland into the noncommercial category. Most noncommer- cial forest land is in public ownership. TRENDS IN FOREST-LAND AREA (Thousands of acres at each inventory) Inventory date 1953 1972 1985 1998 Timberland 1.973.0 1.805.6 1.784.5 1.696.1 Noncommercial forest land 17.0 55.2 65.7 163.2 Total forest land 1.990.0 1.860.8 1.850.3 1.859.3 Percent forested 63.5% 59.7% 59.7% 60.0% Estimated total land area* 3.135.0 3.116.8 3.101.0 3.101.0 'Estimates of the total land area have changed because of new measurement techniques and refinements in the classification of small bodies of water. PEOPLE AND FORESTS The size of the population and how people live on the land are significant forces in shaping the forest. The population grew by 51 percent to 3.3 million people between 1 953 and 1 998, making Connecticut the fourth most densely populated state. Yet it ranks 13th in percentage of forest cover. Few places on earth have as many people living among so much forest. Most of Connecticut's forest land is owned by an estimated 102,000 private individuals and enterprises, which hold 84 per- cent of the state's timberland. State, federal, and other public owners hold the remaining 16 percent. The numbers of acres owned strongly influence landowners' motives and management activities. Owners of large tracts of forest are more likely to manage their forests for timber products. Private and public water utilities, own some of the largest forested tracts. Although many in number, owners with small holdings account for a small portion of the timberland. Three-fourths of the private forest landowners have fewer than 1 0 acres and they collectively own about 9 percent of the timberland. These small tracts are prima- rily home sites. The number of owners with fewer than 50 acres of timberland has increased by 68 percent since 1975. Wildlife biologists have found that breaking up large tracts of unbroken forest into many smaller forests by roads, home building, and other land development has been detrimental to many species of birds and other wildlife. TIMBERLAND OWNERSHIP IN CONNECTICUT Individual and other private 84% Private Timberland By Size Class of Owner, 1993 Acres owned fsize class^ Number of owners Total acres in class 1-9 77,200 126,700 10-49 18,400 404,600 50-99 3,200 202,300 100-499 3,000 379,300 500-999 200 126.700 1,000+ <50 176,800 All size classes 102.000 1.416.400 MORE LARGE SIZE STANDS Timberland is classified by the size of trees growing on it for both timber resource and wildlife habitat purposes. Saw- timber stands, which have the majority of their stocking in large trees suitable for sawlogs, have increased in acreage. These stands have more of the attributes that are beneficial to wildlife: an understory with herbaceous plants and shrubs that provide wildlife food and cover habitat; bole cavities for nesting; bark flaps for feeding sites; and large dead trees, both standing and on the forest floor. Poletimber-size stands declined in acreage. Trees in these stands are not yet mature enough to produce large amounts of nuts and seeds, and often form dense overstories that inhibit the growth of understory vegetation. The area categorized as sapling/seedling and nonstocked stands has decreased from 29 percent of timberland in 1953 to 5 per- cent in 1998. Typically, early-successional pioneer tree spe- cies, along with many shrub and herbaceous plants that need full sun to grow, are found here. These stands provide unique nesting and feeding habitats for wildlife. The shift to the more mature sawtimber-size class shows that forest habitats are changing. This is good news not only for the lumber industry but also for many wildlife species. However, the decline in wildlife species that need early-successional stands, such as Eastern bluebirds and chestnut-sided warblers, is of concern to many wildlife biologists. Forests containing all stand- size classes provide diverse habitats for wildlife, and an even flow of forest products, and might be more resistant to insect and disease outbreaks. TIMBERLAND AREA BY STAND-SIZE CLASS AND PERCENT OF TOTAL BY INVENTORY YEAR Sapling-seedling, nonstocked Poletimber Sawtimber 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 Thousands of Acres □ 1953 □ 1972 □ 1985 □ 1998 TREES HAVE INCREASED IN SIZE AND NUMBER How well forests are populated with trees is determined by measures of tree size and number. Foresters measure tree diameters at 4-1/2 feet above the ground and refer to this as diameter at breast height (d.b.h.). Since 1972, the average d.b.h. of trees 5 inches in diameter or greater has increased from 8.7 to 9.8 inches. During this period, the average number of trees per acre, 5 inches d.b.h. or greater, has increased from 157 to 161. Changes in the numbers of trees were not distributed evenly across diameter classes. Since 1972, most of the increase in the number of trees occurred in diameter classes above 8 inches. Numbers of trees in the 2-, 4-, 6-, and 8-inch classes have decreased. NUMBER OF TREES BY DIAMETER CLASS 600 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 Diameter class (inches at breast height) THE VOLUME OF TREES HAS INCREASED This increase in size and number of trees has resulted in an increase in ttie average volume of trees per acre of timber- land. Volume per acre increased from 799 cubic feet in 1 953 to 1,995 cubic feet in 1998. AVERAGE VOLUME PER ACRE 2500 2000- S 1500 o .a 3 10OO 500 5406 1995 4276 1631 ^^^6 2729 799 942 6000 5000 4000 ■S 3000 "2 CO o 2000 ^ 1000 1953 1972 1985 1998 Inventory Year □ Cubic feet □ Board feet Despite a decrease in timberland area since 1 985, the total cubic volume of trees increased by 1 6 percent. The portion of these trees that is large enough to produce sawlogs has in- creased by 20 percent to now total 9.2 billion board feet. growth of trees averaged 55.7 million cubic feet and removals averaged 25.5 million cubic feet. The net growth of wood, which includes losses due to natural mortality, was about 2.3 times as much as was being cut or otherwise removed. Sixty-one per- cent of removals are attributed to harvesting, and 38 percent to the reclassification of timberland to noncommercial forest land or conversion to a nonforest use. Oak species accounted for nearly half of the volume harvested. The surplus growth over removals yields an annual net increase of 34.8 million cubic feet — an annual increase of 1 percent. The growth of trees has exceeded harvesting since the first inventory in 1 953 and today's well-stocked stands are the result of these steady gains accu- mulating in the forest. COMPONENTS OF CHANGE IN LIVE VOLUME ON TIMBERLAND 100.0 ■ 80.0 - 1 60.0 ■ u 40.0 ■ J3 3 U 20.0 ■ c o 0.0 ■ S -20.0 ■ -40.0 -60.0 79.4 61.2 34.8 -18.2 -26.3 Gross Growth Mortality Net Growtti Removals Net Change / 61% due to harvest 39% due to land use change RED MAPLE LEADS IN VOLUME Connecticut's forests contain a diverse mix of species. The 1 998 inventory identified 64 tree species, though many of these are uncommon. The 10 most common species (listed in the chart below) account for 88 percent of the cubic-foot vol- ume. When ranked by volume, red maple is the leading spe- cies followed by northern red oak, which was the leading spe- cies in the 1 953 and 1 972 inventories. Ongoing high-grading of oak stands during harvesting on private land, high oak mortal- ity following gypsy moth caterpillar outbreaks, and lack of oak regeneration are significant factors in this change. CHANGE IN VOLUME OF TOP 10 SPECIES Red maple Northern red oak Ottier red oaks - Hemlock Black birch White pine White oak Hickory White ash Sugar maple -1 -17% -2 ♦13% J ♦32% J *4% 1,^14% □ 1985 □ 1998 j -3% -0 3% 100 200 — I I 1 300 400 500 Million cubic feet — I — 600 I 700 —r— 800 THE VOLUME OF GROWTH IS TWICE REMOVALS Forests have increased in volume during the last 50 years, and also have produced timber products. The 1 998 forest inventory revealed that on an annual basis since 1 985, the net FOREST HEALTH The USDA Forest Service Forest Health Monitoring (FHM) Program looks at a wide set of indicators that reflect for- est conditions. One of these measures is crown dieback, or the percentage of branch tips that are dead. Dieback can be a sign that the tree is being attacked by an insect or disease or has other health problems. Few trees in Connecticut mea- sured by FHM scientists had significant amounts of crown dieback. Eighty-five percent of the trees measured had little (1 to 5 percent) or no dieback; only 1 percent of the trees had dieback greater than 20 percent. Hemlock trees accounted for the heaviest dieback, most likely attributable to damage by the hemlock wooly adelgid. Differences in dieback among species may indicate differences in tree vigor, though some variations should be expected due to differences in growth characteristics. Over time, observations of dieback and other attributes will allow researchers to identify trends and better evaluate forest conditions. 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