An Analysis to Support the Southern Forest and Forest Products Outlook

By Jeffrey Prestemon
The USDA Forest Service
November 14, 2024
Category: Forestry
Region: United States, US East

The last decade’s economic, social, and environmental changes have affected the production, consumption, prices, and trade of forest products. This report provides an overview of changes in the U.S. South. …The region today faces uncertainties related to the impacts of new products and wood pellets on traditional products, the effects of climate change on forest growth and disturbances, an evolving trade posture, and economic and population growth. This Outlook sought to clarify the overall effects of some of these phenomena without asserting levels of confidence about their likelihoods. …The study highlighted several knowledge gaps. First, climate is affecting growth, but the growth effects of rising temperatures and higher CO2 levels may be offset by changes in precipitation and shrinking CO2 absorptive capacity of trees, attenuating anticipated increasing timber inventory volumes. …Alterations in disturbances from this changing climate also affect timber mortality, which may counteract increased forest gross growth.

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