40 FOREST RESOURCES; PRINCIPAL TREES AND REGIONS 



by private individuals or interests; 59,277,000 acres are owned and 

 managed by federal agencies; and the balance, or only 3,103,000, is 

 owned by the states and local political units. It is apparent, there- 

 fore, that the private companies own the bulk of the remaining stand- 

 ing timber, both in area and in volume. 



Public ownership (federal, state, county, etc.) embraces only 4% 

 of all the forest land in the East, whereas in the West it includes 65%. 



As a large share of our forests is privately owned, logging methods 

 have been pursued without any governmental supervision and con- 



Federally Owned 

 or Managed 



State 



County and 

 Municipal 



45 

 Million Acres 



FIG. 23. Graph showing public ownership of forest lands in this country. Only 

 about 21% of our total forest area is so owned. Private ownership is represented 

 in the balance or 70%. Federal ownership is represented largely in the National 

 Forests. There are also extensive forests in the National Parks, Indian Reserva- 

 tions and Military Reservations. 



trol and, therefore, with little reference to the continuity of yield 

 and the assurance of future cut adequate in either quantity or quality. 



4. VOLUME OF STANDING TIMBER 



The standing saw timber in the United States amounts to 1,667,- 

 803,000,000 b.f. or about one-third the original stand. Eighty per cent 

 of the commercial saw timber is old or virgin-growth. The U. S. 

 Forest Service estimated the standing timber in 1920 to be 2,214,- 

 893,000,000 b.f. 



Hardwoods and Softwoods. Eighty-nine per cent of the standing 

 timber consists of softwoods and 11% of hardwoods. 



