Southern Forest Resource Assessment - Summary of Findings

Abstract

The Southern Forest Resource Assessment (SFRA) was initiated in spring 1999 to address broad questions concerning the status, trends, and likely future of southern forests. A descriptive assessment such as SFRA can be used to highlight the major dynamics and uncertainties at play within a region's forested ecosystems, thereby focusing public discourse. Because SFRA has only recently been completed, however, it is too early to examine its effectiveness as a basis for debate and policy. This summary describes five major forces of change affecting southern forests and then characterizes the trends in various forest conditions and their implications.

Keywords

future of forestry, inventory and analysis, sustainable forestry, timber markets

Citation

Wear, David N.; Greis, John G. 2002. Southern Forest Resource Assessment - Summary of Findings. Journal of Forestry, Vol. 100, No.7, October/November 2002.