In 1994, volume of roundwood products removed from South Carolina's forests totaled 653 million cubic feet- 12 percent more than in 1992. Mill byproducts generated from primary manufacturers increased 9 percent to 21 1 million cubic feet. Almost all plant residues were used, primarily for fuel and fiber products. Pulpwood was the leading roundwood product at 334 million cubic feet; saw logs ranked second at 264 million cubic feet; veneer logs were third with 50 million cubic feet. The number of primary processing plants declined from 1 1 4 in 1992 to 105 in 1994. Totaf receipts increased 12 percent to 652 million cubic feet.

The virgin forests of longleaf pine, bald cypress and oak that covered much of the South Carolina Lowcountry presented seemingly limitless opportunity for lumbermen. Henry Buck of Maine moved to the South Carolina coast and began shipping lumber back to the Northeast for shipbuilding. He and his family are responsible for building the "Henrietta," the largest wooden ship ever built in the Palmetto State. Buck was followed by lumber barons of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who forever changed the landscape, clearing vast tracts to supply lumber to the Northeast. The devastating environmental legacy of this shipbuilding boom wasn't addressed until 1937, when the International Paper Company opened the largest single paper mill in the world in Georgetown and began replanting hundreds of thousands of acres of trees. Local historian Robert McAlister presents this epic story of the ebb and flow of coastal South Carolina's lumber industry.

During the second half of the twentieth century, the forest industry removed more than 300 billion cubic feet of timber from southern forests. Yet at the same time, partnerships between public and private entities improved the inventory, health, and productivity of this vast and resilient resource. A comprehensive and multilayered history, Forestry in the U.S. South explores the remarkable commercial and environmental gains made possible through the collaboration of industry, universities, and other agencies. This authoritative assessment starts by discussing the motives and practices of early lumber companies, which, having exhausted the forests of the Northeast by the turn of the twentieth century, aggressively began to harvest the virgin pine of the South, with production peaking by 1909. The rapidly declining supply of old-growth southern pine triggered a threat of timber famine and inspired efforts to regulate the industry. By mid-century, however, industrial forestry had its own profit incentive to replenish harvested timber. This set the stage for a unique alliance between public and private sectors, which conducted cooperative research on tree improvement, fertilization, seedling production, and other practices germane to sustainable forest management. By the close of the 1990s, concerns about an inadequate timber supply gave way to questions about how to utilize millions of acres of pine plantations approaching maturity. No longer concerned with the future supply of raw material and facing mounting global competition the U.S. pulp and paper industry consolidated, restructured, and sold nearly20 million acres of forests to Timber Investment Management Organizations (TIMOs) and Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), resulting in an entirely new dynamic for private forestry in the South. Incomparable in scope, Forestry in the U.S. South spotlights the people and organizations responsible for empowering individual forest owners across the region, tripling the production of pine stands and bolstering the livelihoods of thousands of men and women across the South.

The roundwood output of industrial timber products from South Carolina’s forests amounted to 605.1 million cubic feet in 1988, nearly 3 percent more than in 1987. Volume of industrial timber products generated from plant byproducts increased by nearly 1 percent to 205.9 million cubic feet in 1988. In 1988, residues used for fiber and fuel totaled 176.5 million cubic feet, Pulpwood was the Sate’s leading roundwood product with 283.2 million cubic feet; next was saw logs with 253.7 cubic feet, and then veneer logs with 62.7 million cubic feet. The trend continues toward complete utilization of plant byproducts, with the volume of unused plant residues dropping by 4 percent, to 0.8 million cubic feet. Fewer mills had greater receipts, indicating increased utilization and processing efficiency.