Abstract
Hurricane Hugo struck South Carolina in September 1989 causing extensive mortality and damage to forest stands in 23 counties. The Forest Inventory and Analysis Work Unit at the Southeastern Forest Experiment Station conducted a special inventory of the damaged area in 1990. This Paper presents the results of that inventory and documents procedures used in the inventory and analysis. More than 4.5 million acres of timberland were significantly damaged. Volume of softwood growing stock was reduced by 21 percent with nearly one-third of the remaining volume damagedto some degree. Hardwoods sustained less immediate loss-6 percent-but one-third of the remaining hardwoods was damaged. Hurricane Hugo added more than 1 million acres to South Carolina's backlog of acreage needing regeneration.
Keywords
Forest inventory,
forest-damage assessments,
tree-damage classifications,
wind damage
Citation
Sheffield, Raymond M.; Thompson, Michael T. 1992. Hurricane Hugo Effects on South Carolina''s Forest Resource. Res. Pap. SE-284. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southeastern Forest Experiment Station. 60 p.