OWNERSHIP 39 



About 39% of all our forest areas and over one-fourth of the saw- 

 timber areas are found in the Southeastern forest region, including the 

 so-called pineries, and contain about three times the area devoted to 

 forests found in any other region. Only 26% of our forest area occurs 

 west of the Great Plains, yet it contains the bulk of the volume of 

 standing timber. Thirteen per cent of the total forest area of the 

 country embraced within the Pacific Coast region contains 62% of all 

 the saw timber left in the country. 



Of the total area devoted to forests only about one-fifth or 

 98,855,000 acres is of virgin or old growth. About 75% of this area 

 is found west of the Great Plains. 



3. OWNERSHIP 



Ownership of our forests has been subdivided into three classes, 

 namely: (1) private; (2) federal; and (3) state, county, and 

 municipal. 



1. Private Companies or Individuals Own 79% of Our Total For- 

 est Area. These are chiefly lumbermen, farmers who own large areas 

 of woodlots in small and scattered tracts, pulp and paper companies, 

 and others interested in owning and holding forest properties. Most 

 of the larger holdings controlled by private companies are found in 

 the Pacific Coast region and in the South. Many of these companies 

 own or control from 300,000 to several million acres of timberland. 



2. Federal Agencies Own or Manage 18% of Our Forest Area. A 

 large share of this area is in National Forests which are operated by 

 the U. S. Forest Service, a relatively small percentage is controlled 

 by the U. S. Indian Service and the National Park Service, War 

 Department, etc. A very large percentage of these federally controlled 

 forests is found in the Rocky Mountain and Pacific Coast States. 

 In some states such as California, Idaho, Montana, and Oregon, a 

 large share of the forest area is found within the National Forest 

 boundaries. A small percentage of the National Forests is located in 

 northern New England, the Lake States, the Southern Appalachian 

 Mountains of the Southeast, and in Pennsylvania, Arkansas, and 

 several southern states. 



3. States, Counties, and Municipalities Own 3%. There has been 

 a pronounced forward move in the acquisition of forest areas by these 

 agencies since the World War. More than thirty states now own or 

 control forests. New York and Pennsylvania each have more than 

 two million acres which are set aside in their state forests and parks. 



Of the 188,645,000 acres of saw timber, 126,265,000 acres are owned 



