Determining the availability of hardwood timber on non-industrial private forest land in southeast Texas

Abstract

In some areas of the South, including Southeast Texas, non-industrial private forest (NIPF) lands are becoming increasingly important as sources of hardwood fiber as hardwood timber inventory declines on forest industry company lands. The objective of this study is to understand the motivation and characteristics of NIPF owners who sell hardwood timber in Southeast Texas. This study, conducted in 1989, focused on the timber sale decisions, attitudes, and outlooks of NIPF landowners in a 12 county area of Southeast Texas. Data used for this study includes USDA Forest Service periodic inventory data and a questionnaire administered to a random sample of NIPF landowners. The USDA Forest Service inventory data for the 12 county area indicates 4.4 million acres of timberland (65 percent of the total land area) with 1525 million cubic feet of hardwood timber. In the study area, forest industry companies control 62 percent of the timberland acres and 58 percent of the hardwood timber, NIPFs own 32 percent of the timberland acres and 36 percent of the hardwood timber, and public ownership has 6 percent of the hardwood timber volume and 6 percent of the timberland acres. The hardwood timber inventory in the 12 county area is decreasing as removals exceed growth, but appears to be sufficient to support current removal rates well into the future. Questionnaire responses from 400 NIPF landowners revealed that 71 percent of them sold hardwood timber prior to 1989, and these landowners owned 92 percent of the NIPF acres in the sample. Fifty-two percent of the NIPF owners indicated a willingness to sell hardwood timber within the next 20 years, on ownerships containing 75 percent of the NIPF acres in the sample. Price was found to be statistically significant in determining the quantity of hardwood pulpwood that would be available. A supply curve developed from questionnaire data revealed an elastic supply relationship for hardwood pulpwood. A sub-sample of 48 of the surveyed NIPF owners were willing to sell hardwood timber at $6.07 per cord, representing 20 percent of the hardwood acres in the sub-sample. At $13.85 per cord, 50 percent of the hardwood acres were available for harvest.