THE FOREST RESOURCES OF THE WORLD. 



67 



FOREST RESOURCES OF THE UNITED STATES AND HOW THEY 

 COMPARE WITH THOSE OF OTHER COUNTRIES. 



It is intended here merely to compare the most important features 

 of the forest resources of this country with those of other countries. 

 This, perhaps, will serve at the same time as a summary of the 

 statistical facts brought out in the preceding pages. 



FOREST AREA. 



The United States occupies the second place among the nations 

 of the world as to the extent of its forests; Russia, European and 

 Asiatic, comes first; Canada stands third. 



The forests of the United States, according to ownership, may be 

 roughly divided as follows: National forests, 100,000,000 acres of 

 productive forest area, or 18.35 per cent; state forests, 3,000,000 

 acres, or 0.55 per cent; and private and unreserved public forests 

 (unclassified), 442,000,000 acres, or 81.1 per cent. 



The bulk of the forests is either in private hands or likely to pass 

 into private ownership. 



While government and state ownership of forests has invariably 



E roved the most advantageous form, yet the proportion of forest 

 md owned or controlled by the State can not always be taken as a 

 criterion of the state of development of forestry in the country. The 

 Government may, for historic or economic reasons, have only a small 

 area of its own, but still exercise a great influence over the forests 

 of other owners. Thus, Austria has only 10.7 per cent of the total 

 forest area under state ownership, Switzerland 4.6 per cent, France 

 12 per cent, and yet forestry in those countries is at a high state of 

 development, as all other forests are under direct control or the State, 

 which practically amounts to management by the State. 



Government and state forests comprise about 19 per cent of all 

 forests; since the bulk of the forests is in private hands and entirely 

 outside of state supervision, the area which is assured of a proper and 

 careful management is comparatively small. Below is given a com- 

 parative table of forests under state ownership in the different coun- 

 tries of the world : 



TABLE 22. Percentage of forests under state ownership. 



a For forest resources of the United States see Forest Service Circular 171: The Forests of the United 

 States: Their Use. 



