Current conditions and trends in composition and structure of Midwestern forests

摘要

The Midwest is defined in this study as the region including Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Tennessee (Figure 1). This region encompasses the vast majority of what is commonly referred to as the central hardwood region. The Midwest region, well known for its high quality hardwood resource, has a wide variety of forest resources that make significant environmental and economic contributions. These forest resources play an important role with impacts ranging from employment and other value-added economic contributions to improving and protecting soil and water resources to providing wildlife habitat.