Another trend - that toward parcelization of forest lands as urban areas expand and as titles to forestland are passed to successive generations - could compound coming losses of hardwood timberland by reducing the likelihood of harvest over large areas. Parcelization often leads to forest fragmentation through road construction and construction of primary residences or second homes. Although it is too early to determine the net impact on hardwood forest management and the ability to periodically harvest timber, concerns about forest sustainability and resulting expansion of forest monitoring to include assessment of a wide array of factors - from soil conditions to plant and animal biodiversity - are likely to further complicate timber harvest activity. That forest monitoring efforts will be substantially magnified is a certainty. This is of particular concern in view of the fact that there is an apparent data quality problem in the current forest inventory process.

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