Forests of West Virginia, 2017

This publication provides an overview of forest resources in West Virginia based on inventories conducted by the U.S. Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program of the Northern Research Station. For annual inventory years 2002-2013, the sample length was equal to 5 years. Beginning in 2014, the cycle length was changed to 7 years. For the 2014 inventory, estimates for current variables such as area, volume, and biomass are based on 2,369 plot samples collected from 2009-2014. Change variables, such as net growth, removals, and mortality, are based on 2,035 samples collected in 2004-2009 and resampled in 2009-2014. Estimates from earlier annual and periodic inventories are shown for comparison. See Bechtold and Patterson (2005) and O'Connell et al. (2013) for definitions and technical details.