The South Annual Forest Inventory ilitv in the SouthCornwstone of Sustainab

Hurricanes can instantaneously affect millions of acres of forestland. In 1989, Hurricane Hugo reduced the inventory of softwood growth stock by 2 I percent in South Carolina (Sheffield and Thompson 1992). Annual forest inventories will provide nearly real-time estimates of change following catastrophic events. T h e ecological and economic sustainability of southern forests is in question. Legitimate concern spans many public groups, from those concerned about maintaining biological diversi ty and the regio& reservoirs of plant and animal genetic material, to forest landowners who manage forests to meet economic and societal needs, to average citizens interested in “doing the right thing,” whatever that may be. Changes in the management of public lands have significantly reduced the leve1 of timber harvest on national forest lands (USDA-FS 1998). Timber removals in the South are projected to increase sharply over the next several decades in response to harvest reductions on western public lands (USDA-