128 



A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 



The 189 million acres of land bearing saw timber is divided about 

 equally between old growth and second growth. The old growth is, 

 of course, located mostly (see table 2 and fig. 4) in the three western 

 regions with the Pacific Coast predominating, while the second growth 

 is mainly in the eastern half of the country with the South far in the 

 lead. The presence of these large areas of old-growth saw timber in 

 the Pacific Coast region and of second-growth saw timber in the South 

 does not, however, indicate correspondingly large volumes of timber 

 available for cutting at present within these two great forest regions. 

 The extensive second-growth lands in the South represent immature 

 actively growing timber which is now being cut extensively, but which 

 far more desirably should be retained as growing stock. On the other 

 hand, western old-growth areas support heavy stands of mature, 



New England 



Middle Atlantic- 

 Lake 



Central 



South 



Pacific Coast 



N. Rocky Mt 



5. Rocky Mt 



All Regions \ 



20 



40 60 



Million Acres 



I Old growth 



' Saw -timber Area 



I Second grow+h 

 I Saw -timber Area 



FIGURE 4. Old-growth and second-growth (commercial) saw-timber areas by regions. 



high-quality timber suitable for cutting. The desirable interregional 

 coordination thus implied is discussed further iri the section, "Present 

 and Potential Timber Resources". 



The great bulk 85 percent of the 185 million acres of restocking 

 and nonrestocking lands are, as would be supposed, to be found in the 

 East. In fact they constitute 43 percent of all the eastern forest land. 

 This is the type of forest land upon which fires have caused or may 

 cause much serious though often unspectacular damage. From the 

 standpoint of areas involved, the problem of protecting restocking 

 land looms large in the eastern forest regions and more especially in 

 the South. Similarly, the problem of artificial reforestation of 

 already denuded lands is mainly an eastern one, possibly most serious 

 in the Lake region. Figure 3 and table 2 indicate, however, that 

 except for the southern Rocky Mountain region with its insignificant 

 areas of restocking and nonrestocking, the poor to nonrestocking 



