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Detailed Issues:
- Discuss the history of forest conditions back as far as can be reliably documented.
- Be explicit about definitions, for example the definition of a forest, and report data by forest species group wherever possible.
- Disclose data compilation procedures, assumptions made, and the limits of the data. For example, define the age of the FIA data for every state; recognize that tree volume estimates do not include small trees.
- Evaluate changes in patterns of ownership and their potential implications for forest management.
- Evaluate land use changes involving forests, both permanent and transitory.
- Examine the dynamics of ownership. How have ownership patterns changed?
- Recognize the great variety of ownership types in the South and examine the diversity of forest conditions that result.
- Include consideration of new forest investment groups as an ownership group.
- Evaluate the rates of change of the above characteristics and between forest types and ownerships-e.g., between hardwood types and pine plantations.
- Discuss the implications of potential fragmentation on forest structural characteristics.
- Describe the history of forest structure as far back as can be documented.
- Link projected future characteristics with anticipated demands for southern timber for various product types--i.e., softwood and hardwood fiber and sawtimber, if possible.
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