A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 



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TABLE 7. Estimated gross returns per thousand feet board measure per acre on 

 private forests under intensive and extensive forestry 



1 From section "Status and Opportunities of Private Forestry" (table 4). 



2 See table 5, note 2. Under extensive forestry only saw timber returns are included. 



RETURNS FROM FEDERAL FORESTS 



The gross returns attainable from timber stumpage from Federal 

 forests include the estimated annual returns (reasonably forecast) 

 within a period of 20 to 40 years on forests having growing stock, and 

 within 50 to 80 years on those where the growing stock has to be 

 built up. The variation in economic conditions and the rate at which 

 the various improved practices outlined in this report are put into 

 effect cannot be forecast very far ahead, and thus a precise estimate of 

 how long it will be before full returns are attained cannot be closely 

 made. The major portion of the Federal forest area is subject to 

 multiple use in which many resources are revenue producers, through 

 sale or use. The estimated returns from each type of use are given 

 below under their respective headings. 



TIMBER RETURNS 



The program of Federal acquisition contemplates adding approxi- 

 matety 134 million acres to the 140 million now in the national forests, 

 excluding Alaska. These 274 million acres will of necessity include 

 enormous areas on which private ownership has destroyed or reduced 

 the growing stock. It will include also lands which experience has 

 shown are economically unadapted to private ownership. These are 

 the major reasons for allocating only about 20 million acres to intensive 

 and 90 million acres to extensive (or " crude") timber management 

 under Federal ownership. When the intensive area has been placed 

 in full utilized production through an adequate growing stock, the 

 gross returns from timber sales may be about $50,000,000 annually. 

 In like manner the 90 million acres under extensive timber manage- 

 ment might eventually produce a gross return of some $80,000,000 

 annually. 



Less complete data indicate that an additional 10 million acres under 

 extensive forestry in the Alaska forest might yield a gross return of 

 $4,000,000 annually. This brings the estimated eventual total timber 

 returns under the expanded national-forest system in the continental 

 United States and Alaska to a possible $134,000,000. The speed with 



