According to the US Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis Program (FIA), in cooperation with the Indiana DNR has been taking measurements on research plots across Indiana since the 1950s. Comprehensive reports of previous inventories are dated 1950, 1967, 1986, 1998, 2003, and 2008. These reports, along with annual data, may be viewed via the National Forest Inventory and Analysis website: www.fia.fed.us
HIGHLIGHTS
• The area of Indiana’s forests continued to show a net increase, a trend that began in the 1960s. Increases in the width of narrow wooded strips and the conversion of cropland and pasture to forest land were greater than losses from development of forest land for agriculture or urban/suburban expansion.
• Average annual net growth exceeded harvest by a 3 to 1 margin between 2006 and 2010. As a result of the increased acreage and growth exceeding harvest, the volume of trees growing in Indiana continued to increase.
EXTENT OF INDIANA’S FORESTS
• The area of forestland in Indiana has been increasing since the 1960s. Timberland increased from 3.896 million acres in 1967 to 4.775 million acres in 2010. In 2010, forestland represented 20.6% of the total land area in Indiana.
• Private landowners are the largest ownership group in Indiana, owning 84.5 percent of all forestland in 2010. The Federal government is the largest public owner of timberland with nearly 8 percent while the State owned 7 percent. Private landowners held 4.034 million acres, the State owned 339,000 acres, the Hoosier National Forest owned 195,000 acres, and the Department of Defense owned 89,000 acres.
COMPOSITION OF INDIANA’S FORESTS
Area
95.2% of the total area of forestland is classified as hardwood forest types. The primary hardwood forest types in Indiana are oak-hickory with 3.5 million acres, elm-ash-cottonwood with 596,000 acres, and maple-beech with 326,000 acres.
Number of Trees
Between 2003 and 2010, beech, hard maple, sweetgum, ash and black walnut were among the species groups that increased in the total number of trees.
John Walter York, age 94, passed away this morning, Friday, April 26. John was married to D.A. Pike’s youngest daughter, Virginia, who passed away in 2000. He was an uncle to Lynne Northrop and Channing Utter, and he was a great uncle to Nancee Ward. He trained and mentored Dean Baker in the timber business. 
