Rates of deforestation and reforestation were measured using Landsat Multispectral Scanner data for a 100-km by 100-km section of the Upper Coastal Plain of South Carolina and Georgia. Landsat data from 1974, 1979, 1984, 1988 and 1991 were (1) classified as pine forest, hardwood forest and nonforested areas and (2) compared across years to indicate forest cutting and regeneration. In 1974 hardwood forests occurred on 268,335 ha, or 27% of the area, and these forests were largely uncut in subsequent years. In 1974 pines occurred on 202,613 ha, or 20% of the area, but cutting rates of approximately 6600 ha y⁻¹ reduced the area of this initial pine forest to 110,146 ha in 1988 and 82,795 ha in 1991. The rate of pine cutting on privately owned land was 4.0% y⁻¹, which is greater than that observed for most tropical forests. Pine reforestation rates were 3200 ha y⁻¹ and were too small to maintain the area in pine. The total pine area in 1988, including remnants of the 1974 forest and reforestation since 1974, was 155,559 ha, or 77% of that in 1974. The rapid rate of loss of pine habitat indicated by the Landsat data was not apparent in the United States Forest Service (USFS) surveys for the same region and time. This discrepancy is due to methodological differences between USFS procedures, which measure forests as product resources, and the Landsat data, which measure forests as habitat area.