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The second full annual inventory of South Dakota's forests reports 1.88 million acres of forest land with an average volume more than 1,200 cubic feet per acre for all live trees. Forest land is dominated by the ponderosa pine forest type, which occupies 60 percent of the forest land area. Sixty-three percent of the forest land consists of large diameter stands, 15 percent medium diameter stands, 15 percent small diameter stands, and 7 percent is nonstocked. The average annual net growth of live trees on forest land from 2006 to 2010 is 40.2 million cubic feet per year while average annual removal is 25.8 million cubic feet per year. This report includes additional information on forest attributes, land use change, carbon, timber products, and forest health. Detailed information on forest inventory methods, data quality estimates, tables, and raw data can be found in the Statistics, Methods, and Quality Assurance section found on the DVD on the inside back cover of this report. AcknowledgmentsThe authors thank the individuals who contributed both to the inventory and analysis of South Dakota's forest resources. Staff with key responsibility for data management, processing, and estimation included Carol Alerich, Manuscript received for publication November 2012Printed on recycled paper

Figure 1.-Area of timberland and forest land by year, South Dakota, 2007. Figure 2.-Area of timberland area of top five forest types by stand-size class, South Dakota, 2007. Note: Large diameter trees are at least 11.0 inches diameter for hardwoods and at least 9.0 inches diameter for softwoods. Medium diameter trees are at least 5.0 inches diameter but not as large as large diameter trees. Small diameter trees are less than 5.0 inches diameter.

22 p. Results of the 2005 annual inventory of South Dakota show 1.7 million acres of forest land in the State. Timberland accounted for more than 90 percent of the forest land area. More than 70 percent of the timberland is publicly owned. Eighty percent (1.2 billion cubic feet) of the growing-stock volume on timberland came from ponderosa pine. All live aboveground tree biomass on timberland totaled 30.3 million dry tons. Major insect problems in South Dakota's forests were the mountain pine beetle and the pine engraver beetle. KEY WORDS: Annual inventory, forest land, timberland, forest type, volume, biomass, forest health, South Dakota. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, and where applicable, sex, marital status, familial status, parental status, religion, sexual orientation, genetic information, political beliefs, reprisal, or because all or part of an individual's income is derived from any public assistance program. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.

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