12 



A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 



IT IS LARGELY RESPONSIBLE FOR FOREST DEVASTATION AND 

 DETERIORATION 



Of the 83 million acres of devastated or poorly stocked forest land, 

 74 million, or nine tenths (see fig. 3) is privately owned, and an appre- 

 ciable part of the remainder reached this condition before coming into 

 public ownership or as a direct result of private operations and owner- 

 ship. 



PUBLIC LAND 



PRIVATE LAND 



25 5O 



MILLION ACRES 



75 



FIGURE 3. The large proportion of the area of devastated or poorly-stocked forest land in the lower bar 

 does not tell the full tale of responsibility, since private ownership must also answer for a part of the 

 10 percent now publicly held. 



Of the 850,000 acres devastated each year about 95 percent are in 

 private ownership, as shown in figure 4. 



At least 36 million acres of forest are being deteriorated annually, 



grimarily as a result of poor silvicultural practice and unsatisfactory 

 re protection. 



PUBLIC LAND 



PRIVATE LAND 



200 



400 

 THOUSAND ACRES 



600 



800 



FIGURE 4. The area of forest land devastated annually. While the current annual rate may be offset 

 in part or altogether by the return of other lands to productivity, the long delay is a heavy drag on 

 the forestry enterprise for which private ownership is chiefly responsible. 



The extent to which private ownership is responsible is shown by 

 the fact that more than 98 percent of the 10 million acres cut over 

 each year is privately owned, that fully 95 percent of the private 

 cutting is probably made without any conscious regard to the future 

 productivity of the forest, and that nearly all of the cutting on publicly 

 owned forests is designed to perpetuate the forest. Figure 5 shows 

 these relationships. 



