PRESENT AND POTENTIAL TIMBER RESOURCES 



By R. E. Marsh, In Charge, Division of Forest Economics, and 

 W. H. GIBBONS, Senior Forester * 



CONTENTS 



Page 



Present timber supplies 174 



Volume and distribution 174 



Ownership of timber supplies 184 



Availability of timber stands 189 



Forest drain 205 



Timber cut 210 



Timber losses 218 



Timber growth 220 



Current annual growth 220 



The relation of current growth to drain 221 



The significance of recent trends to future growth 223 



Sustained yield possibilities 228 



Summary 234 



The balance between timber supplies and requirements 235 



Should saw timber be the major object of a national program of 



forestry? 235 



Present and prospective normal timber requirements 236 



Regional interdependence for timber supplies 237 



Relation of foreign supplies and markets 240 



A plan of forest-land management consistent with normal require- 

 ments for timber 241 



The country's forest resource consists of two fundamental elements, 

 namely, the forest land as such, which is treated in the section on 

 " Forest Land the Basic Resource," and the forest growth which that 

 land bears. The amount, character, geographic distribution, owner- 

 ship, economic availability, rate of cut or destruction, and rate of 

 growth, of this stand of timber are of the utmost importance, because 

 upon them largely depend the assurance of meeting economically, 

 amply, and permanently our needs for timber and timber products 

 and for other forest benefits. They determine the degree to which 

 the forest resource, land and timber, is approaching its potential 

 contribution to the Nation's economic welfare. They influence the 

 determination of whether and what positive measures are needed, 

 nationally and regionally, both by the private owner and the public, 

 to put the forests on a satisfactory basis. It is the purpose of this 

 discussion to present the best information available as to the timber 

 stands on the 495 million acres classed as commercial forest land. 



i Valuable contributions in analysis and interpretation of the growth data presented in this section were 

 made by E. N. Munns. C. E. Behre, and W. N. Sparhawk. Acknowledgment is also due to R. V. Reynolds 

 for assistance in the development of the data on forest drain, and to W. D. Brush for cooperation in the 

 compilation of the data throughout this section. 



173 



