178 



A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 



In other words, the one great remaining reservoir of saw timber, 

 and that softwood, is the Pacific Coast region. ^ For years the New 

 England, Middle Atlantic, Central, and Lake regions have contributed 

 relatively little to the softwood-lumber production of the country; 

 and the South, because of waning supplies, is losing the commanding 

 position which it has held for 20 or 30 years. This large Pacific Coast 

 supply of saw timber seems capable of being an important asset in 

 helping to tide over the interval which apparently must elapse before 

 the East can be organized on a more satisfactory forest-producing 

 basis. Highly developed mass production methods of lumber manu- 

 facture and low-cost water transportation render much of this timber 

 economically available to eastern consuming centers, and apparently 



New England 



Middle Atlantic. 



Lake 



Central _. 



South __ 



Pacific Coast. 



N. Rocky Mt. 



S. Rocky Mt. 



Saw-log 

 Material 



40 



Remainder of 

 Stand on Saw- 

 timber Areas 



80 120 



Billion Cubic Feet 



Stand on 

 ]| Cordwood 

 Areas 



160 



200 



Stand on 

 HH Restocking 

 Areas 



FIGURE 6. Total stand (cubic feet) in the United States including saw-timber areas, cordwood areas, 



and restocking areas, by regions. 



should facilitate a period of reduced cutting and of rehabilitation of 

 the depleted eastern softwood forests. On the other hand, owing 

 to circumstances which need not be discussed here, the pressure to 

 liquidate is so great upon private owners in the Pacific Coast region 

 that stumpage is being thrown on the market with little regard to 

 sustained yield requirements, and with the effect of further depressing 

 market conditions, and for the time being, rendering forestry measures 

 less attractive for the private forest-land owners in other regions. 



Table 2 and figure 5 illustrate the distribution of the saw timber by 

 hardwoods and softwoods, and by important species, for eastern and 

 western United States. Douglas, fir, with 530 billion board feet, 80 

 percent of which is in Washington and Oregon, is far in the lead. 

 Ponderosa pine, widely distributed through the West, is second with 

 252 billion. These two species comprise half the softwood saw 

 timber of the entire country. 



