STATUS AND OPPORTUNITIES OF PRIVATE FORESTRY 



By BURT P. KIRKLAND, Principal Forest Economist 



CONTENTS 



Page 



Present condition of private forest lands 891 



Present and potential extent 892 



Production and investment conditions 893 



Effect of liquidation policy on the forest resource 895 



Present extent of sustained-yield practice on private forest lands 896 



Conditions in commercial forests 896 



Conditions in farm woodlands 897 



Adverse conditions and practices accompanying the liquidation of private 



forest land investments 898 



Unwise location of manufacturing plants and construction of excess 



plants 898 



Failure to coordinate different wood uses 898 



Other factors affecting private forestry conditions and policies 899 



Demand for forest products 899 



Stabilization of ownership and blocking up of areas for permanent 



management 900 



Economic size for forest properties. 900 



Organizing forest properties 901 



Potential productivity 902 



Ad j usting growing stock to produce maximum returns 904 



Regional conditions and management practices 911 



Pacific coast forests 911 



Forests of the Rocky Mountain region 931 



Forests of the South 939 



Hardwood forests of the Central States 957 



Forests of the Lake States region 961 



Forests of the New England and Middle Atlantic States 966 



Measures necessary to speed up adoption of improved forest-management 



practices 979 



Summary 983 



Literature cited 984 



PRESENT CONDITION OF PRIVATE FOREST LANDS 



Forest productivity is governed by natural forces in much greater 

 degree than by man's efforts. The better a region's climatic and soil 

 conditions are adapted to the forest as a vegetative type, the greater 

 the region's forest productivity. It is for this reason that even in the 

 regions of the United States where settlement took place earliest and 

 where, consequently, the forests have undergone exploitation for the 

 longest period, private forest lands still yield considerable volumes of 

 forest products. Data readily available show, unfortunately, that 

 neglect and actual abuse of the forest resource under private control 

 have reduced the productivity of this resource to a small fraction of 

 what it might be. From the standpoint of national supplies of forest 

 products the economic results of this reduction are not yet fully 

 apparent, owing to the continued availability of considerable volumes 

 of virgin timber. Locally and regionally, however, adverse economic 

 results are apparent on every hand. 



891 



