Abstract
By 2050, US timberland area is projected to be about 3 percent smaller than today due to increasing demands for urban and related land uses from another 126 million people. An increasing area of southern planted pine will be accompanied by a reduction in the area of upland hardwoods. Hardwoods will continue to dominate the forested landscape in the South. Plantation growth rates will increase by 38 percent, and plantation fiber output will increase by 289 percent to reach 61 percent of private softwood removals volume.