146 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 



SUMMARY OF FOREST LAND SITUATION 



PRESENT AREAS 



In all, 615 million acres, or one third of the continental United 

 States, is forest land. This forest land is a basic resource, adapted 

 to five major uses, each of which constitutes a large and essential 

 phase of our economic and social life. With some important excep- 

 tions, as in cases where tracts of forest land are designed to serve a 

 highly specialized purpose, these uses need not be mutually exclusive. 

 On the contrary, forest land characteristically, insofar as economic 

 circumstances make it feasible, may efficiently serve several or all 

 uses at one time, and constitutes a multiple-use resource of vast pro- 

 portions and importance. 



These five major uses or functions of forest land may be summarized 

 as follows : 



TIMBER USE 



Wood in various physical and chemical forms has long been an 

 essential commodity to mankind. When this country was settled by 

 the white man it was providentially endowed with a vast store of 

 virgin timber a natural supply which has furnished us the greater 

 portion of the wood for commercial use. These virgin supplies are 

 substantially cut out in the eastern United States. The remaining 

 reservoir of virgin timber is in the West. It is not unlimited. To 

 continue to supply the needs of the country for timber and wood 

 products, forest land must be used to grow successive crops of timber 

 in somewhat the same manner that agricultural lands are used to 

 grow agricultural crops. 



Of the total of 615 million acres of forest land, about 495 million 

 acres of what in this report is called commercial forest land is con- 

 sidered to be capable of growing a volume and quality of timber that 

 under recent or reasonably conceivable future conditions may be 

 economically available for consumption. This commercial forest 

 land, which does not include productive areas withdrawn for one 

 reason or another from commercial exploitation, occupies about one 

 fourth of the area of the United States. It exceeds by a wide margin 

 the area of land actually in agricultural crops. 



The following tabulation shows nationally a broad classification of 

 this commercial forest area by present condition of forest cover : 



Acres 



Old growth (mature) saw timber 99, 000, 000 



Second growth (immature) saw timber 90, 000, 000 



Cordwood areas (characterized by trees of cordwood size) 121, 000, 000 



Logged or burned: 



Fair to satisfactory restocking 102, 000, 000 



Poor to nonrestocking 83, 000, 000 



Total for the continental United States (exclusive of Alaska) _ 495, 000, 000 



The whole of this gross area is not now nor will it be likely to be 

 effective producing forest-land capital for a great many years. Con- 

 siderable areas are economically inaccessible under present conditions. 

 Much of the 83 million acres described as poor to nonrestocking will 

 have to be planted before it can produce a merchantable timber crop. 



Some future withdrawals from timber use will be desirable for 

 special purposes. It is roughly estimated that 34 million acres addi- 



