Arizona’s forest resources, 2001-2014

Abstract

This report presents a summary of the most recent inventory of Arizona's forests based on field data collected between 2001 and 2014. The report includes descriptive highlights and tables of forest and timberland area, numbers of trees, biomass, volume, growth, mortality, and removals. Most sections and tables are organized by forest type or forest-type group, species group, diameter class, or owner group. The report also describes the inventory's design, inventory terminology, and data reliability. Results show that Arizona's forest land covers 18.6 million acres. Forty-one percent (7.7 million acres) of this forest land is administered by the USDA Forest Service, and another 39 percent (7.3 million acres) is privately owned. The State's most abundant forest type is pinyon/juniper woodland, which covers more than 7.3 million acres. Pinyon/juniper woodlands, combined with juniper woodland, cover over 11 million acres, or almost 60 percent of Arizona's forest land area. Common pinyon is the most abundant tree species by number of trees, and ponderosa pine is the most abundant by volume and biomass. Arizona's forests contain 14.5 billion cubic feet of net volume in trees 5.0 inches diameter and larger. Gross growth of all live trees 5.0 inches diameter and larger averaged 184 million cubic feet per year. Average annual mortality totaled 238 million cubic feet per year, and net growth was -53.6 million cubic feet per year, or about a 0.37 percent reduction of the State's total wood volume.