State Report for Alabama

For Alabama, estimated merchantable wood volume is expected to increase from 40.521 billion cubic-feet to 41.147 billion (a change of 1.5%), while estimated sawlog wood volume is expected to increase from 22.159 billion cubic-feet to 22.317 billion (0.7%). Estimated merchantable bole biomass is expected to increase from 720.19 million tons to 734.02 million (1.9%), while estimated stump biomass is expected to decrease from 44.813 million tons to 42.321 million (-5.6%), and estimated tops and limbs biomass is expected to increase from 156.93 million tons to 228.04 million (45.3%). Finally, estimated aboveground biomass is expected to increase from 1.0194 billion tons to 1.1253 billion, a change of 10.4%.

Figure 1: Percent difference in volume and biomass for Alabama

Species breakdown

The top ten species in Alabama in terms of standing biomass are loblolly pine, water oak, sweetgum, white oak, yellow- poplar, southern red oak, chestnut oak, pignut hickory, red maple, and laurel oak. These species account for 67.4% of the total aboveground biomass and 69.9% of the total merchantable volume. For merchantable wood volume, the species with the smallest percent change was sweetgum 0.3%, while the largest percent change was with pignut hickory 23.9%. For total aboveground biomass, the species with the smallest percent change was loblolly pine 2.5%, while the largest percent change was with laurel oak 30.1%. For sawlog wood volume, the species with the smallest percent change was red maple -0.1%, while the largest percent change was with pignut hickory 23.1%. For merchantable bole biomass, the species with the smallest percent change was loblolly pine -1.5%, while the largest percent change was with pignut hickory 18.6%. For stump wood and bark biomass, the species with the smallest percent change was sweetgum 0.6%, while the largest percent change was with laurel oak 61.4%. For top and limb biomass, the species with the smallest percent change was sweetgum -0.2%, while the largest percent change was with southern red oak 110.6%.

Figure 2: Percent difference in total aboveground biomass and merchantable volume for the top ten species in Alabama

Figure 3: Percent difference in component biomass and volume for the top ten species in Alabama