Abstract
Western North Carolina (WNC), part of the Appalachian landscape, hosts a robust forest product industry but faces increasing challenges like land marginalization, warming temperatures and raw material shortages. This study evaluates the site suitability and cost-effectiveness of cultivating Populus species for high-value veneer–plywood (VP) production in WNC using the Veneer-Poplar Productivity and Economic Assessment Model (VP-PEAM). The model integrates site-specific variables (elevation, soil characteristics, landform and land-use history) to optimize site-species management strategies across diverse landscapes. Twelve scenarios are analyzed to assess how biophysical and land-use factors influence VP growth and profitability. The results show that VP productivity and profitability decline with increasing elevation, past land-use intensity, soil compaction and decreasing soil depth. All land-use types studied support profitable VP production. Yet, flood plain sites with medium-textured soils and moderate water table depths (0.61–1.83 m) offer optimal conditions. Even under suboptimal conditions, extended rotations maintain profitability, except on sites with persistent waterlogging or shallow water tables (<0.31 m). VPs generate higher annual equivalent opportunity benefits (USD 1568–USD 2763 ha−1 yr−1 in 15- to 18-year rotations) compared to non-forest land uses, suggesting their potential to enhance regional wood supply and land-use efficiency. These findings contribute to site-informed forest management and offer a modeling approach for assessing forest resilience and cost-effectiveness in Appalachian landscapes.
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Claims 6
Claim · model-written summary
Populus veneer productivity and profitability decline with increasing elevation, past land-use intensity and soil compaction.
- Treatment
- increasing elevation, past land-use intensity, soil compactione1
- Outcome
- VP productivity and profitabilitye1
- Direction
- declinee1
PopulusOrganisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Populus Plantations”
e1“The results show that VP productivity and profitability decline with increasing elevation, past land-use intensity, soil compaction and decreasing soil depth”
Claim · model-written summary
Populus veneer productivity and profitability decline with decreasing soil depth.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Populus Plantations”
e1“The results show that VP productivity and profitability decline with increasing elevation, past land-use intensity, soil compaction and decreasing soil depth”
Claim · model-written summary
All land-use types studied support profitable veneer poplar production.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Populus Plantations”
e2“All land-use types studied support profitable VP production”
Claim · model-written summary
Flood plain sites with medium-textured soils and moderate water table depths offer optimal conditions for veneer poplar production.
- Outcome
- optimal conditionse3
- Value
- 0.61–1.83 me3
- Qualifier
- medium-textured soils and moderate water table depthse3
- Setting
- flood plain sitese3
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Populus Plantations”
e3“flood plain sites with medium-textured soils and moderate water table depths (0.61–1.83 m) offer optimal conditions”
Claim · model-written summary
Extended rotations maintain profitability of veneer poplar production under suboptimal conditions, except on sites with persistent waterlogging or shallow water tables.
- Treatment
- extended rotationse4
- Outcome
- profitabilitye4
- Direction
- maintaine4
- Qualifier
- except on sites with persistent waterlogging or shallow water tables (<0.31 m)e4
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Populus Plantations”
e4“Even under suboptimal conditions, extended rotations maintain profitability, except on sites with persistent waterlogging or shallow water tables (<0.31 m)”
Claim · model-written summary
Veneer poplar plantations generate higher annual equivalent opportunity benefits than non-forest land uses in 15- to 18-year rotations.
- Treatment
- VPse5
- Outcome
- annual equivalent opportunity benefitse5
- Direction
- highere5
- Value
- USD 1568–USD 2763 ha−1 yr−1e5
- Qualifier
- in 15- to 18-year rotationse5
- Comparator
- non-forest land usese5
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Populus Plantations”
e5“VPs generate higher annual equivalent opportunity benefits (USD 1568–USD 2763 ha−1 yr−1 in 15- to 18-year rotations) compared to non-forest land uses”
The same questions in other papers
rotation · yield · Populus (poplar)Results agree
3 papers in the same direction as this paper
- positive
- positive
- positive
Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.