Forest Facts for Shelby County
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Shelby County Forests
- The Piney Woods region of East Texas has
43 counties covering over 22 million acres
of land of which 11.6 million acres is forest
land.
- Shelby County is ranked 9th in the state
based on forest ownership.
- 357,700 acres in the county are forested
- 31% classified as Pine
- 21% classified as Pine/Hardwood
- 48% classified as Hardwood
- 148,303 acres in the county are non-forested,
e.g. pasture and cropland
- Land ownership breakdown in Shelby County:
- Non-industrial private land owners:
238,200 acres or 67%
- Industry: 61,300 acres or 17%
- Public (Sabine National Forest): 58,200
acres or 16%
- Texas Forest Service Office:
- Shelby County office opened in 1973
- now closed and relocated to San Augustine
- Organized in 1915 at Texas A & M
University.
- Responsible for landowner assistance
in forest management, education, insect
and disease control, wildfire protection
and prevention, urban forestry, VFD training,
federal and private cost-share programs,
and reforestation efforts for the county.
- The Natural Resource Conservation Service
and Farmer Service Agency are USDA offices
designed to provide valuable information
and assistance to landowners, e.g., federal
cost-shares for reforestation, soil testing,
farm evaluations and management plans.
- In the early 1900's over 3000 people were
employed by the timber industries
- 1900's saw the last virgin forests in the
county harvested
- 1940's only 840 were employed in timber
industry
- Reforestation efforts began in the 1940's
and continue today. According to the USDA
Forest Service 1992 Forest Survey; Shelby
County is harvesting more cubic feet of timber
than is grown annually. However through a
mass media campaign the Texas Forest Service
and other agencies and associations hope
to change that trend by the next survey in
2000.
- Shelby County along with Sabine and San
Augustine counties has one of Texas' first
Landowner Associations devoted to the education
of landowners and the promotion of management
of this natural resource. The Tri-County
Timber Growers Association was formed in
1986. For more information
contact the Texas Forest Service at (936)275-3473
or http://txforestservice.tamu.edu/.
- Shelby County has numerous professional
foresters in the forest consulting business.
They are in business to serve landowners
in all aspects of land management. To obtain
a list contact the Texas Forest Service office.
- Timber buyers and loggers constitute over
40% of the forest related jobs in Shelby
County while the forest productions, e.g.,
saw mills, chip mills, employ over 57% of
the forest industry jobs. Total Employees
represented as of 1994 are 1156.
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