In this paper, we provide an assessment of plantation forests and private land resources potentially available for pine plantation development in 11 southern states of the United States. After a sustained growth for 50 years, plantation forests (softwood and hardwood on both private and public lands) amounted to 18 million ha or 24 percent of all timberlands in these states in 2007. The vast majority of the plantation forests were established on private lands with fast-growing loblolly pines and slash pines. While purposeful hardwood plantations were rare, there were hardwood stands growing on failed pine plantation sites. Using a two-stage Markov land use transition model, we forecast that private forest land in these states will [...]
