Abstract
Of the roughly 100 million acres (40.5 million ha) of forest land in the Midsouth, roadless forested areas comprise some 23 million acres (9.3 million ha).Although much of the acreage is on bottomland sites (7 million acres, or 2.8 million ha) and areas with rugged terrain or steep slopes (4 million acres, or 1.6 million ha), half of the acreage is on upland sites with level-to-rolling terrain.This paper discusses the distribution of roadless forested areas by location, stand characteristics, and proximity to population centers.Roadless timberland areas are clustered around selected landforms.Current patterns suggest trends toward greater representation in hardwood forest types, puplic ownership, and sawtimber stands.Data were obtained from a 1975-84 survey of Midsouth timberland.
Keywords
Wilderness,
remote forests,
forest inventories,
mapping,
primitive areas.
Citation
Rudis, Victor A. 1986. Emerging patterns in the distribution of roadless forested areas in the Midsouth. Wilderness and natural areas in the eastern United States: a management challenge; 1985 May 13-15;Nacogdoches, TX. Nacogdoches, TX: Center for Applied Studies, School of Forestry, Stephen F. Austin State University; 1986: 265-270.
