State Forests 



grants to the States for schools, inter- 

 nal improvements, and so forth, com- 

 prise approximately 28 percent of the 

 total acreage in State forests and, ex- 

 cept for 1.3 million acres in Minnesota 

 and small scattering acreages in other 

 States, are found in the Pacific Coast 

 and Rocky Mountain States. In Idaho, 

 Montana, and Colorado, Federal- 

 grant lands comprise the total acreage 

 of the State forests. 



Tax-reverted lands, titles to which 

 have come to the States through tax 

 delinquency, comprise approximately 

 3 1 percent of the total acreage in State 

 forests. Except for a few thousand 

 acres in other States, those lands are 

 in Minnesota, Michigan, New York, 

 and Washington. 



The lands acquired by gift and ex- 

 change comprise approximately 36 

 percent of the total acreage in State 

 forests. Except in Idaho, Montana, and 

 Colorado, nearly every State that has 

 State forests has acquired some of its 

 lands by purchase; in many States 

 purchase has been the only means of 

 acquisition. 



Federal-lease lands were originally 

 acquired by the Federal Government 

 in connection with the resettlement 

 program of the 1930's, and have been 

 leased to the State for forestry and 

 other conservation purposes by the 

 Federal Government under the admin- 

 istration of units of the Department of 

 Agriculture and the Department of the 

 Interior. As a rule, the leases are long- 

 term and liberal; to all intents and 

 purposes, the lands are administered 

 as State forest lands. Lands so leased 

 comprise but 4 percent of the total 

 acreage in State forests. There are no 

 lands in this category in any State west 

 of the Mississippi; most of them are 

 in North and South Carolina, Virginia, 

 Florida, Tennessee, and Georgia. 



Approximately 14 million of the 

 16.6 million acres of land in the State 

 forests are in eight States: Michigan, 

 3.75 million acres; New York, 3 million 

 acres; Minnesota, 2 million; Washing- 

 ton, 1.7 million; Pennsylvania, 1.67 

 million; Idaho, 950,000; Oregon, 570,- 



000; Montana, 520,000 acres. The re- 

 maining 2.6 million acres are in 29 

 other States. 



On a regional basis, 15 million of the 

 16.6 million acres are in these sections: 

 The Lake States (Michigan, Wiscon- 

 sin, Minnesota), 6 million acres; the 

 Middle Atlantic States (Delaware, 

 Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York, 

 West Virginia, New Jersey) , 5 million 

 acres; the Pacific Coast States (Wash- 

 ington, Oregon, California), 2.2 mil- 

 lion acres ; the Rocky Mountain States 

 (Idaho, Montana, Colorado), 1.8 mil- 

 lion acres. There are only 660,000 acres 

 in State forests in all of the Southern 

 States; of this acreage, 450,000 acres 

 are in lands leased from the Federal 

 Government. 



Or, in another classification of areas, 

 the acreage is distributed thus: Saw- 

 timber areas, 21 percent; pole-timber, 

 34 percent; seedling and sapling, 31 

 percent; poorly stocked and denuded 

 areas, 14 percent. In the Pacific and 

 Rocky Mountain States, the acreage in 

 saw timber rises to an average of 33 

 percent; in the Eastern and Southern 

 States, the average drops well below 

 21 percent. 



Only five States reported estimated 

 saw-timber volumes in excess of a 

 billion board feet Washington, 1 2 bil- 

 lion board feet; Idaho, 7.3 billion; 

 Pennsylvania, 3.6 billion; Montana, 2 

 billion; and Colorado, 1.01 billion. 



Six States reported saw-timber vol- 

 umes between 100 million and 1 billion 

 board feet: Michigan, 650 million; 

 Colorado, 309 million; Ohio, 250 mil- 

 lion; South Dakota, 250 million; In- 

 diana, 150 million; and Connecticut 

 109 million. Oregon, New York, and 

 Minnesota did not report saw-timber 

 volumes, but undoubtedly the saw- 

 timber volumes in State forests in each 

 is more than 100 million board feet. 



The State forests generally are su- 

 pervised by the State forester. The 

 agency with which the State forester 

 is connected varies among States, how- 

 ever. In 21 of the 36 States that have 

 State forests, forestry is a division of a 

 State conservation department or a de- 



