Slides from presentation given by William L. Hoover, PhD, Professor of Forestry Purdue School of Agriculture, Department of Forestry and Natural Resources for 12/8/11 Indiana Sustainable Natural Resources Task Force meeting. More info: http://www.indianawildlife.org/snrtf.htm

1. Sustainable Natural Resources Task Force -
Status of Indiana’s Forest Resources
December 8, 2011
William L. Hoover, PhD, Professor of Forestry
Purdue School of Agriculture, Department of Forestry and
Natural Resources

2. Underlying Conditions
• Forests are a dynamic resource
– Must be described in dynamic terms as complex
ecosystems integrated into landscapes.
• Forests are resilient
• Status is determined by
– Site quality (soil and climate),
– Vegetation
– How it is used/managed by owners.

3. Underlying Conditions
• Maximization of financial returns requires
“intensive” management
• Woodland is a buffering land use,
– Goes in and out in response to changes in the
agricultural economy,
– Goes out with urbanization and leapfrog
residential development.

4. Area of “Forest Land” and % of Total Land Area

5. Strengths
• Excellent growing conditions for temperate
hardwoods
• Timber is readily accessible and close to
competitive markets
• Classified Forest Act reduces carrying cost,
providing an incentive to hold forest land.

6. Strengths
• Competitive network of private consultants to
meet needs of private landowners
• Network of NGO’s on call to work with private
owners desiring to protect their land in
perpetuity.

7. Strengths
• Division of Forestry has statutory and
administrative authority to manage state
forests for the revenue needed to sustain
services to private landowners, manage and
expand state forest lands, and support
research.
• State-based research and education programs
provide scientific basis for management and
utilization of forest resource.

8. Strengths
• Aesthetic and intrinsic values make it a
desirable asset for many families, especially
those who want to make their homes (houses)
in the woods.
– Such ownership should be considered part of the
forest land base, they are the future.
– Programs need to be adapted to meet their
desires for their forests.

9. Weaknesses
• Environmental services provided by forests
and “wildland” in general are:
– Not traded in a private market,
– Nor, are owners otherwise incentivized to
maximize their provision of these services
• Publically funded incentive programs will
never have more than marginal impact on the
ground

10. Weaknesses
• Fragmentation of tracts
– Increased number of diverse decision makers,
– No economies of scale for management,
• Excludes Indiana’s woodland from national and
international timberland markets for investment grade
timberland
– Owners of smaller tracts are passive owners,
• Focused on minimizing expenses.

11. Acreage by Tract Size and Age of Owners
(U. S. Forest Service estimate for 2010)

12. Number of Owners by Age and Tract Size Class
(U. S. Forest Service estimate for 2010)
Acres

13. Tract Size Class, Acreage Covered, Number of
Owners, and Average Tract Size per Owner
100 A >

14. Weaknesses
• Increased acreage undergoing inter-
generational transfer or liquidation
– New set of decision makers,
– Exposure to land uses change when woodland is
not the highest and best use
• Invasive species are reducing reproduction of
trees and changing ecology of forest floor.

15. Weaknesses
• Reduced disturbances, including intensive
harvesting, have reduced regeneration of
species needing direct sunlight to reproduce
• Management decisions are based primarily on
need to minimize expenses, not maximize
potential future time revenue.

16. Weaknesses
• Long-term downward trend in hardwood
lumber production has moderated timber
price increases,
– Reducing further the likelihood that on the basis
of discounted cash flow analyses timber
production is competitive with other land uses.

17. U. S. Hardwood Lumber Production

18. Value of logs in average stand of timber: nominal,
deflated, and trend-line price series, 1957- to 2011.