Title

A spatial analysis of the forestry industries in East Texas

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2013

Abstract

The 48,400 km2 (12.0 million acres) of timberland in East Texas provides a multi-billion dollar industry that produces a wide variety of goods and services, and supports tens of thousands of jobs. Forest fragmentation, biomass harvesting, land use change such as urbanization and oil and gas exploration, and market challenges are resulting in greater economic volatility for the forestry industry in East Texas. This study investigates the spatial, economic and social factors that may impact the location of forestry industries with GIS spatial analysis tools. Basic information about all the forestry industries in East Texas were collected, compiled, and categorized. Standard Poisson regression analysis was processed between the number of forestry industries per county and potential influencing factors such as forest coverage, developed area, population, road density, average house value, average timberland value, median household income, and tax rate. Significant spatial impact factors on forestry industries were successfully identified, and the output of the research can be useful for policy makers, investors, and resource managers to implement strategies that will ensure the future viability of the forestry industries in East Texas.

Comments

Zhang, Y., H. Li, M.W. McBroom, and S.H. Bullard. 2013. A spatial analysis of the forestry industries in East Texas. Annals of GIS http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19475683.2013.806357

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