A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY 



25 



billion board feet for the all-important saw-timber sizes. This is 

 shown graphically in figure 14. 



PRIVATE OWNERSHIP THE LIMITING FACTOR 



Private ownership is the limiting factor because it holds four fifths 

 of the commercial forest land, with at least 90 percent and possibly 

 more of the potential growing capacity (fig. 15). Under the present 

 distribution of ownership nearly the entire deficiency of growing 

 stock must be made up on private land, which it has as yet been the 



PRESENT GROWING STOCK 



REQUIRED GROWING STOCK 



100 



200 300 



MILLION CUBIC FEET 



400 



500 



10 



20 

 MILLION BOARD FEET 



30 



40 



FIGURE 14. Growing stock or forest capital in the East. The increase of the forest capital for the entire 

 East by two and one half times is a prerequisite in raising growth to the level needed to meet national 

 requirements. But the saw-timber portion of the growing stock is being reduced by some 29 billion 

 board feet annually. 



practically universal tendency of private practice to reduce rather 

 than to build up. 



THE PROBLEM OF WATERSHED PROTECTION 



The service which the forest may render in watershed protection is 

 probably as great in value as in the production of wood, and may be 

 greater. 



The possibility of protective service ranges from great river systems 

 like the Mississippi to the "dry " washes of a few acres in the semiarid 

 West. It is not confined to the headwaters but may be most acute 

 on the very bluffs of great streams like the Mississippi. 



