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No Active Management

Land is placed in the no active management category if no management actions, including timber harvest, are taken at present; and none are planned in the future. The determination of the area that is not actively managed presents similar problems to the estimation of multiple-use management intentions and outcomes. Most forests in the South were managed in some way in the past. Results of surveys of forest owners show that 10 million acres have been removed from timber cutting (Moffat and others 2001, Siry 1998, Siry and Cubbage 2001, Siry and others 2001). This amount is predicted to increase to nearly 20 million acres in the next two decades. Birch (1997) estimated that owners of about 22 million acres of forest land have no harvest intentions, but some other treatments may be applied.

Another evidence of forest management activities is the extent to which owners have a written management plan. Birch (1997) finds that such written management plans were reported by only 5 percent of owners, but that those owners hold 40 percent of private forest land. Written management plans were primarily prepared for tracts larger than 5,000 acres. While the lack of a written management plan does not indicate the lack of management activities, it implies that some land is managed quite extensively.

Given the limited evidence, it is concluded that about 10 million acres of private forests in the South get no active management. Forest owner surveys and continued forest fragmentation suggest that this area will increase over the next two decades to about 20 million acres.