South Carolina

Forestry

South Carolina had 12,495,000 acres (5,057,000 hectares) of forestland in 2002—about two-thirds of the state's area and 1.7% of all US forests. The state's two national forests, Francis Marion and Sumter, comprised 5% of the forested area. Nearly all of South Carolina's forests are classified as commercial timberland, about 90% of it privately owned. Several varieties of pine, loblolly, longleaf, and shortleaf, are the major source of timber and of pulp for the paper industry. Total lumber production in 2002 was 1.4 billion board feet.