130 



A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 



INDUSTRIAL OWNERSHIP 



Industrial ownership is the most important type of forest land 

 ownership in the United States, not only because it includes over half 

 of the commercial acreage, but because it is here that the Nation's 

 forest problems especially reside. Two hundred and seventy million 

 acres (see table 3 and fig. 5), or well over half of the commercial forest 

 land by and large including the best is owned by land, lumber, 

 pulp and paper, and mining companies, naval stores operators, rail- 

 roads, and miscellaneous individuals or agencies. With some notable 

 exceptions these owners have not been convinced of the financial 

 justification for the measures that would insure keeping this land 

 continuously and permanently producing timber. 



Industrial 



Farm Woodland- 

 Public 



All Areas-- 



50 



IOO ISO 2OO 



MILLION ACRES 



E50 300 



Industrial 



Farm Woodland . 

 Public 



All Areas._ 



|Saw-timber 

 ' Areas 



ao 



40 6O 



PER CENT 



ratrto Satisfactory t 

 Restocking Areas ' 



80 



IOO 



i Poor to Non - 



' restocking Areas 



FIGUBE 5. Character of growth in each ownership class on commercial forest areas. 



It is undoubtedly true that private forestry practice would have 

 been and is now economically advantageous on a much broader scale 

 than has been in effect. Nevertheless private owners face some very 

 disconcerting problems and uncertainties in embarking upon forestry 

 programs. The following might be listed as examples : Existing meth- 

 ods of forest taxation especially the uncertainty as to the amounts 

 that must be paid in the future before revenues begin to come in 

 from those properties that are not now on a sustained or continuous yield 

 basis; the danger of losses by fire and other destructive agencies 

 against which existing protection is far from uniformly adequate, and 

 for which commercial insurance is not commonly available at attrac- 

 tive rates; the unavailability of favorable long-time credits on a basis 

 comparable, for instance, to that on which farm loans can be obtained ; 

 the uncertainty as to what changes a few decades may bring in the 



