Michigan's Forest Inventory

Glossary

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Average annual removals from growing stock
--The average net growing-stock volume in growing-stock trees removed annually for forest products (including roundwood products and logging residues) and for other uses (see Other removals). Average annual removals of growing stock are reported for a period of several years (1977 to 1989 in this report) and are based on information obtained from remeasurement plots.
Average annual removals from sawtimber
--The average net board foot sawtimber volume of live sawtimber trees removed annually for forest products (including roundwood products and other uses [see Other removals]). Average annual removals of sawtimber are reported for a period of several years (1977 to 1989 in this report) and are based on information obtained from remeasurement plots.
Commercial species
--Tree species presently or prospectively suitable for industrial wood products. (Note: Excludes species of typically small size, poor form, or inferior quality such as hophornbeam, osage-orange, and redbud.)
Cord
--One standard cord is 128 cubic feet of stacked wood, including bark and air space. Cubic feet can be converted to standard cords by dividing by 79.
Farm
--Either a place operated as a unit of 10 or more acres from which the sale of agricultural products totals $50 or more annually, or a place operated as a unit of less than 10 acres from which the sale of agricultural products for a year amounts to at least $250. Places having less than the $50 or $250 minimum estimated sales in a given year are also counted as farms if they can normally be expected to produce goods in sufficient quantity to meet the requirements of the definition.
Forest land
--Land at least 16.7 percent stocked by forest trees of any size, or formerly having had such tree cover, and not currently developed for nonforest use. (Note: Stocking is measured by comparing specified standards with basal area and/or number of trees, age or size, and spacing.) The minimum area for classification of forest land is 1 acre. Roadside, streamside, and shelterbelt strips of timber must have a crown width of at least 120 feet to qualify as forest land. Unimproved roads and trails, streams, or other bodies of water or clearings in forest areas shall be classed as forest if less than 120 feet wide.
Forest industry land
--Land owned by companies or individuals that operate a primary wood- using plant.
Forest type
--A classification of forest land based upon the species forming a plurality of live tree stocking. Major forest types in Michigan are:
Jack pine --Forests in which jack pine comprises a plurality of the stocking. (Common associates include eastern white pine, red pine, aspen, birch, and maple.)
Red pine --Forests in which red pine comprises a plurality of the stocking. (Common associates include eastern white pine, jack pine, aspen, birch, and maple.)

White pine --Forests in which eastern white pine comprises a plurality of the stocking. (Common associates include red pine, jack pine, aspen, birch, and maple.)

Balsam fir --Forests in which balsam fir and white spruce comprise a plurality of stocking with balsam fir the most common. (Common associates include white spruce, aspen, maple, birch, northern white-cedar, and tamarack.)

White spruce --Forests in which white spruce and balsam fir comprise a plurality of the stocking with white spruce the most common. (Common associates include balsam fir, aspen, maple, birch, northern white-cedar, and tamarack.)

Black spruce --Forests in which swamp conifers comprise a plurality of the stocking with black spruce the most common. (Common associates include tamarack and northern white- cedar.)

Northern white-cedar --Forests in which swamp conifers comprise a plurality of the stocking with northern white-cedar the most common. (Common associates include tamarack and black spruce.)

Tamarack --Forests in which swamp conifers comprise a plurality of the stocking with tamarack the most common. (Common associates include black spruce and northern white- cedar.)

Oak-hickory --Forests in which northern red oak, white oak, bur oak, or hickories, singly or in combination, comprise a plurality of the stocking. (Common associates include jack pine, beech, yellow-poplar, elm, and maple.

Elm-ash-soft maple --Forests in which lowland elm, ash, cottonwood, and red maple, singly or in combination, comprise a plurality of the stocking. (Common associates include birches, spruce, and balsam fir.

Maple-birch --Forests in which sugar maple, basswood, yellow birch, upland American elm, and red maple, singly or in combination, comprise a plurality of the stocking. (Common associates include white pine, elm, hemlock, and basswood.)

Aspen --Forests in which quaking aspen or bigtooth aspen, singly or in combination, comprise a plurality of the stocking. (Common associates include balsam poplar, balsam fir, and paper birch.)

Paper birch --Forests in which paper birch comprises a plurality of the stocking. (Common associates include maple, aspen, and balsam fir.)

Exotic --Forests in which species not native to Michigan comprise a plurality of the stocking. (Mostly Scotch pine plantations.)

Growing-stock tree
--A live tree of commercial species that meets specified standards of size, quality, and merchantability. (Note: Excludes rough, rotten, and dead trees.)
Growing-stock volume
--Net volume in cubic feet of growing-stock trees 5.0 inches d.b.h. and over, from 1 foot above the ground to a minimum 4.0 inch top diameter outside bark of the central stem or to the point where the central stem breaks into limbs.
Hard hardwoods
--Hardwood species with an average specific gravity greater than 0.50 such as oaks, hard maple, hickories, and ash.
Hardwoods
--Dicotyledonous trees, usually broad-leaved and deciduous. (See Soft hardwoods and Hard hardwoods.)
Native American land
--Tribal lands held in fee but administered by the Federal Government.
Industrial wood
--All roundwood products, except fuelwood.
Local government land
--Land owned by counties and local public agencies or municipalities, or land leased to these governmental units for 50 years or more.
Miscellaneous Federal land
--Federal land other than National Forest, and land administered by the Bureau of Land Management.
Miscellaneous private land
--Privately owned land other than forest-industry and farmer-owned land.
National Forest land
--Federal land that has been legally designated as National Forest or purchase units, and other land administered by the USDA Forest Service.
Net annual growth of growing stock
--The annual change in volume of sound wood in live sawtimber and poletimber trees and the total volume of trees entering these classes through ingrowth, less volume losses resulting from natural causes.
Net annual growth of sawtimber
--The annual change in the volume of live sawtimber trees and the total volume of trees reaching sawtimber size, less volume losses resulting from natural causes.
Net volume
--Gross volume less deductions for rot, sweep, or other defect affecting use for timber products.
Nonforest land
--Land that has never supported forest, and land formerly forested where use for timber management is precluded by development for other uses. (Note: Includes areas used for crops, improved pasture, residential areas, city parks, improved roads of any width and adjoining clearings, powerline clearings of any width, and 1- to 40-acre areas of water classified by the Bureau of the Census as land. If intermingled in forest areas, unimproved roads and nonforest strips must be more than 120 feet wide and more than 1 acre in area to qualify as nonforest land.)
a. Nonforest land without trees.--Nonforest land with no live trees present.
b. Nonforest land with trees.--Nonforest land with one or more trees per acre at least 5 inches d.b.h.
North region
-- Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New, Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio and Wisconsin.
North Central region
-- Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio and Wisconsin.
Other removals
--Growing-stock trees removed but not utilized for products, or trees left standing but "removed" from the timberland classification by land use change. Examples are removals from cultural operations such as timber stand improvement work, land clearing, and changes in land use.
Productive-reserved forest land
--Forest land sufficiently productive to qualify as commercial forest land but withdrawn from timber utilization through statute, administration regulation, designation, or exclusive use for Christmas tree production, as indicated by annual shearing.
Roundwood products
--Logs, bolts, or other round sections (including chips from roundwood) cut from trees for industrial or consumer uses. (Note: Includes saw logs, veneer logs and bolts; cooperage logs and bolts; pulpwood; fuelwood; piling; poles; posts; hewn ties;/ mine timbers; and various other round, split, or hewn products.)
Sawtimber volume
--Net volume of the saw-log portion of live sawtimber in board feet, International 1/4-inch rule (unless specified otherwise) from stump to a minimum 7 inches top diameter outside bark (d.o.b.) for softwoods and a minimum 9 inches top d.o.b. for hardwoods.
Soft hardwoods
-- Hardwood species with an average specific gravity less than 0.50 including aspen, basswood, balsam poplar, and soft maple.
Softwoods
--Coniferous trees, usually evergreen, having needles or scale-like leaves.
State land
--Land owned by States or leased to them for 50 years or more.
Timberland
--Forest land that is producing or capable of producing in excess of 20 cubic feet per acre per year of industrial wood crops under natural conditions, that is not withdrawn from timber utilization, and that is not associated with urban or rural development. Currently inaccessible and inoperable areas are included.
Timber removals from growing stock
--The net volume of growing stock in growing-stock trees removed for forest products (including roundwood products and logging residues) and other uses (see Other removals). Timber removals from growing stock are reported for a single year and are based on information obtained from a survey of primary wood-using mills.
Timber removals from sawtimber
--The net board-foot volume of live sawtimber trees removed for forest products (including roundwood products and logging residues) and for other uses (see Other removals). Timber removals from sawtimber are reported for a single year (1988 in this report) and are based on information obtained from a survey of primary wood-using mills.
Timber products output
--All timber products cut from roundwood and byproducts of wood manufacturing plants. Roundwood products include logs, bolts, or other round sections cut from growing-stock trees, cull trees, salvable dead trees, trees on nonforest land, noncommercial species, sapling-size trees, and limbwood. Byproducts from primary manufacturing plants include slabs, edging, trimmings, miscuts, sawdust, shavings, veneer cores and clippings, and screenings of pulpmills that are used as pulpwood chips or other products.
Sources: G.K. Raile and W.B. Smith 1983. Michigan forest statistics. USDA Forest Service Resource Bulletin NC- 67. St. Paul, MN 101p. and W.B.Smith 1991. Assessing removals from north central inventories. USDA Forest Service Research Paper NC-299. St. Paul, MN 48p.